The Best That You Can Be
by Gumby0677
Summary: [AU] Charlie and his sister Caitlin begin high school at Eden Hall Academy with the ducks and face many trials and tribulations as their high school hockey careers begin.
1. Default Chapter

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

My Changes to the MD story line- Charlie Conway has a twin sister Caitlin who also played on the District 5 hockey team, the Junior Goodwill Games, and got accepted to Eden Hall Academy. At Eden Hall- they wear uniforms (never heard of a prep school in my neck of the woods that doesn't). Casey Conway did not get married in the second movie, instead she went back to college and got a degree in business and is now a manager at the diner she has worked at for many years with dreams of opening her own restaurant some day. Basically follows the third movie but with some minor changes (a sister, no romance with Linda, Dean did come to school with them and new couples)

Summary- Charlie and his sister Caitlin begin high school at Eden Hall Academy with the ducks and face many trials and tribulations as their high school hockey careers begin.

Chapter 1 

Caitlin Conway looked at her reflection in the mirror and tried to see if the dress she was wearing would look good enough for meeting with the Dean of Eden Hall Academy. She caught a glimpse of something out in the corner of the left side of the mirror and turned to yell at her brother.

"Charlie what are you doing?" She demanded

"Nothing, just laughing at you. I mean come on you're going to be wearing your Ducks jersey over the dress anyway." Charlie stated.

Caitlin stared at her reflection and hung her head. He was right; she was going to have the Ducks jersey over the dress- what did it matter? It did matter to her in some little way; she was hoping that she might look more like a girl and less like a boy to a certain someone.

The meeting with the dean turned into a press conference in front of the school in which the Ducks were granted Full 4 year scholarships to the school. That was the fun part. The not so fun part was finding out later that Coach Bombay would not be joining the Ducks- he was given a high up position with the Junior Goodwill Hockey people thus handing them over to a new coach.

Caitlin was not really thrilled with the thought of a new coach- but as long as she had the team, she knew things would be ok.

The week before school was to start, a letter came from Eden Hall stating that beginning this year all athletes would be living on campus in order to promote team unity and stuff like that. But unfortunately the Athletic Hall as it was being called was two weeks away from being completed, so the in state Ducks would live at home until they could move into their dorm rooms.

Caitlin was in her room packing up some of her room that would go to Eden Hall during the year. She had piles of stuff that needed to go into some boxes and bags. The only thing that was fully packed and ready was her hockey bag, and a suitcase full of the Eden Hall uniform which consisted of a plaid skirt (colors of red, black, white mixed in), white blouse, red cross tie, black sweater or sweater vest, white socks and brown loafers. On Special days a Black blazer was worn. On cold days a wool pea coat and wool tights was added.

Caitlin was trying to figure out which of her books would go into which box when all of a sudden they were grabbed out of her hand.

"What the.." Caitlin started to say.

"Cate, Cate, why do you have to pack all of your books?" the voice said.

"Julie, not all of them are that bad. I mean I gave her a couple of them for her birthday last year." Said the other voice.

When Caitlin turned around there standing in her room debating on her books were her two best friends- Connie Moreau and Julie Gaffney. Shacking her head, Caitlin grabbed the books out of her two friends hands and placed them into a box on her bed.

"So what brings you guys here?" Caitlin asked.

"Nothing much, just decided to come and hang out with our best friend" Julie said.

"And Julie was bored out of her mind in the dorms." Connie added.

Since Julie was an out of state Duck, she was allowed in the dorms- she currently was sharing a 3 person room with some freshman until Connie and Caitlin could move in with the rest of the Duck in two weeks.

"Can you believe we start high school next week?" Julie said as she pushed a pile of Cate's stuff out of the way to sit on her bed.

"Nope." Cate said as she tried to make room for herself and Connie and her bed.

"God, I can't believe that we have to wear uniforms to school everyday starting next week. I don't look good in plaid." Connie said with a disgusted look on her face.

"Connie, you look good in whatever you wear" Julie said. "You make us two look bad."

"Hey" Cate said shooting a look at Julie.

"What, it's the truth" Julie said.

Cate frowned. It was true; Connie could make a garbage bag look good. Cate was beginning to dread Monday morning when it came to wearing the uniform.

"Connie are you all packed?" Cate asked as she tried to change the topic of their conversation.

"Yup all packed and ready to go." Connie said.

"Well since you guys are here, you can help me finish up." Cate asked hoping they would say yes.

"Well, we were going to go to the movies...but I guess we can help a fellow duck in need" Julie said.

"Thank you." Cate said and handed Julie a duffle bag and pointed out some clothes that would be going into it. She handed Connie a half filled box and asked her to put the rest of the boxes on the desk into it.

Some 45 minutes later the girls we sitting on Cate's bed looking at the pile of bags and boxes (2 duffle bags, 1 big suitcase, 3 boxes and a hockey bag) on her west wall of her room.

"I am hungry" Connie said.

"Me too" Julie added.

"Mom hasn't gone food shopping yet, so I don't think there is anything in the house to eat." Cate said.

"Pizza?" Julie said

"Hamburgers?" Connie said

"Taco Bell" Cate said.

They looked at each other- "Taco Bell" they said at the same time.

Cate stood up, dragged Julie up with her and grabbed her wallet of her dresser. They walked out of her room and out of the apartment into the hot muggy day that the state of Minnesota offered. While walking the three blocks that Taco Bell was from Cate's house the girls talked about school, boys, which always lead to the male Ducks.

Julie pulled open the door and stopped suddenly. Cate who was laughing at something Connie said did not notice Julie stop, and bumped right into her.

"Jules, what are you blocking the door for?" Connie asked from behind Cate.

"No reason." Julie said as she stepped out of the way.

Cate and Connie gave her strange looks as they walked around her and looked around to see what would be the cause of Julie's strange behavior. All Cate say was Her brother Charlie, his best friend Adam Banks, Fulton Reed, and Dean Portman sitting in a booth unaware that the girls were in the same building as them. Cate turned to Connie and shrugged her shoulders. They went up to order their food and as they were waiting they filled up their drinks.

"So, do we sit with the guys or do we not acknowledge them" Connie asked Cate.

"Hmm. "Cate said pretending to think it over. "I'm not fighting with Charlie today. Adam has not gotten on my case and the Bash Brothers have been civil to me..."

"I guess that mean's we sit with them" Julie spoke up with a grin. She and Connie knew that if Caitlin and Charlie were in one of their moods then the rest of the team tried to keep them apart.

The girls headed to where the boys were sitting. They caught the tail end of a joke that Charlie was trying to tell and started to laugh.

"Great the girls are here" Fulton said.

"Hey, I resemble that comment" Cate said as she sat at the table near the boys booth.

Charlie shook his head at his sister and took a sip of his soda. Just then their number was called and Julie went to get their food.

"So are you finally done packing Cate?" Charlie asked his sister.

"Yes" Cate said.

"How about you?" she asked

"Haven't even started" Charlie said as he looked up and saw that Julie had returned with the girl's food. He snagged a taco off their tray and started to eat it.

"Hey that was mine" Connie said.

"Hey I'm a hungry Captain" Charlie said back.

Cate just glared at her brother and told Connie to ignore him and offered her half of her **Quesadilla **.

"It's ok." Connie said with a smile.

Cate shook her head at went about eating her food. When they were done all 7 of them got up and left. The girls heading back to the Conway's apartment and the boys off to Adam's house.


	2. 2

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff

Chapter 2

Caitlin opened the door to the Conway apartment and dropped her backpack and hockey bag in disgust. She was so tired and sore. Thank god next week she would not have to make a daily trek from home to school twice a day. She would be living in the dorms and only have a 10-minute walk from the rink to her bed. She walked to the couch and sat down. She closed her eyes and tried to get everything that had happened this morning out of her mind. She still could not believe what a horrible first day of school it had been.

_FLASH BACK TO THE MORNING::_

Caitlin woke up with a start and then scrambled out of bed remembering that it was the first day of school. She made her bed and opened up her closet to find something to wear. She was glad that it was a free dress day today- she would have to start wearing her uniform tomorrow. She grabbed some pants, a top and a light jacket. She quietly walked to the bathroom hoping to get it before her brother woke up. After taking a quick shower, changing and doing her hair she walked out of the bathroom to the annoyance of her brother.

"Morning Spaz" Cate said to her brother.

Charlie muttered something back that was incoherent.

Cate just shrugged and went to grab her backpack from her room. She was glad that she was smart enough to have left her hockey bag in Julie room yesterday, Connie did the same claiming that she did not want to lug it on the first day.

She went into the kitchen and saw that her mom was up and had put out the cereal and toast.

"This is the only day I am doing this. It's your first day of high school," Casey Conway said to her daughter.

"Thanks mom" Cate said.

Charlie walked into the kitchen as she was pouring milk into her cereal. "Mom, you're still driving us to meet up the ducks, right?" Charlie asked.

"Yes to the alley to meet up with Fulton" Casey said.

"Yeah" Charlie responded back.

Cate finished her breakfast and put her dishes into the sink. "Come on guys we are going to be late meeting the Ducks".

"Cate, we have time. Don't stress" Charlie told her.

Cate walked out of the kitchen and into the family room and sat on the couch waiting very impatiently for her mom and brother to be ready to walk out the door. Cate was very nervous about school starting. She was nervous about meeting the new coach, seeing all the new students and the workload.

- - - -

Casey stopped the car by the alley that the Ducks always meet at. "Have fun you guys." She told her children.

"Bye mom" they both replied.

"Hey Fulton, you ever think of shooting into the alley" Charlie asked as they came up to Fulton Reed.

"No" Fulton said then took another shot at the trunk that was serving as his goal.

Cate and Charlie sat on one of the boxes and began to change their sneakers for roller blades. Today being a free dress day and the first day of school- the in state Ducks decided to roller blade to school rather than take the bus the first week until they moved into the dorms.

"Hey, did you guys here that Jessie isn't come after all. His dad got transferred to LA so they leave in two weeks. Jessie decided that he wanted to stay with his family instead of go with us." Charlie announced.

Cate was shocked- why hadn't Charlie told her this before. She looked at her brother for an answer.

"You were with Connie and Julie and I forgot to tell you when you came home last night." He told her. Cate nodded her head and went back to tying her laces of her blades.

Fulton took another shot and thins time it hit someone. Cate looked up and laughed as she say Greg Goldberg coming up to them rubbing his helmet.

"Hey watch it, the puck grazed my head." Goldberg said.

"Dude, you're a goalie. Deal." Fulton said.

"Yeah, do we need to tie you up to the goal again?" Cate added. That comment sent Cate, Charlie and Fulton into a laughing fit while Goldberg just glared at them.

"Let's go. We have to meet the other ducks near Adam's house " Charlie said as they began to stand and blade out of the alley.

They met up with the other ducks and somehow Charlie and Goldberg got separated from them.

They joined up with them and soon speed off to the school. They were late and decided to take the back door into the Auditorium thinking it would lead to the back seats. Little did they know that they were entering the back stage area and as they got caught in the curtain, they soon say the entire student body staring at them- including their fellow out of state teammates.

Soon they met with the Dean, who informed them that he was hoping for many good things from them. He gave them their schedules and they found that they had some classes together except for Science, Math and their electives. The workload that the teachers were expecting of them was a lot more than junior high.

Finally it came time to go to hockey practice. Julie and Connie found Cate in the main hallway and the three girls went to Julie's temporary dorm to get their stuff. There they met Julie's roommate who was on the soccer team and thought it was so cool that the girls played hockey with they boys team. They said good bye to the roommate and grabbed their gear to head toward the rink.

"So what do you think the new coach will be like?" Cate asked the girls.

"Don't know, but my dad said if I don't like him I can come home." Julie said.

Connie and Cate looked at each other in shock- Julie would think of going home.

"But you wont, right?" Connie asked.

"Maybe" Julie said.

Cate just shrugged at Connie and the girls walked into the rink heading for the JV locker rooms. They made a detour to the girl's locker room that had been constructed last year and began to change. After changing they meet with the boys in the main JV locker room and proceeded to the ice. What they say impressed them very much. It looked so professional- much better than the rink that they practiced at for the Junior games.

Cate was in the back of the pack but she noticed that Connie and Charlie were standing really close to each other and whispering to each other a lot. Hmmm wonder what's going on there she thought. She tried to catch Julie's eye but she was too busy taking in the banners on the ceiling to pay attention to Cate. Cate just shook her head and walked with the rest of the team to the ice.

The Varsity team stopped them and the two captains had some words. After they left, Charlie told Dwayne it was time for some Cowboy Roundup. Connie asked Charlie if it was ok to do it without the new coach around. But somehow Charlie convinced her it was ok. Cate noticed that Connie gave in too quickly without an argument.

Dwayne began to throw the rope around as the Ducks scattered around the rink. The girls decided that safety in numbers was better so they tried to stick together. Somehow Cate lost her grip on Connie and when the three girls mad a sharp turn, Cate went flying into Adam Banks.

"Cate, you ok." Adam said with a laugh.

"Yeah, thanks for stopping me." She said with a grin.

"No prob." Adam said. Then he helped her to her feet and they took off in the other direction away from the fast approaching Dwayne Roberts.

They skated around a little more until Dwayne managed to capture Charlie who fell and landed in front of a stern looking man.

He introduced himself as Coach O'Rion and he was expecting a lot out of them. He knew that they could score goals- but their defense needed a lot of work. He told them that high school hockey was a whole different league then the peewees.

Charlie of course made the coach mad so he was skating laps while the rest of the team began warm-ups.

After a had 2 hour practice the team stumbled into the main JV locker room before the girls split off into theirs. O'Rion then came in with the roster that told them their spots on the team as well as line-ups. Connie was the first to notice this and came up to it to take a look.

Most were disgusted to see where they ended up. Goldberg mad a comment about being lucky to be a goalie and know where they would stand. Unfortunately for him, Julie was 1 he was 2. Cate came to look at the page when she noticed Adam go tense beside her. Connie noticed it to.

"I'm not even posted." He said

"Yes you are. See Adam Banks. Third line... Varsity" Connie said.

Adam and Cate shared a look. Varsity...Adam made Varsity. Cate got a little queasy and decided to look for herself to see where she was. She was First line right side while Charlie was First Line Center. With Adam gone, she had moved up a spot. Joining her would be Charlie, Fulton, Portman, and Guy. Second line was Connie, Luis and Dwayne. Russ, Kenny and Averman were the third line. Julie would be the starting goalie and Goldberg would be second string. Everything on that list was so off.

Cate looked sadly at Adam who was still in shock. Julie dragged the girls out to their locker room and they showered and changed. Connie tried to strike up a conversation but all three where tired and numb from the shock of what just happened to their team. Cate was trying to comprehend the fact that Adam was not going to play with them at all this season. She was so upset she wanted to cry.

Connie announced that they had five more minutes till they had to get out of the rink so Cate quickly brushed her hair and stuffed her things into her hockey bag. She walked out of the locker room to the bewilderment of her female teammates and headed for the bus station.

She spotted some of the guys ahead of her walking to the dorms to drop stuff off. She tried to stay out of their line of sight, but Adam caught up to her.

"Hey" he said.

"Hey." Cate said looking at the ground.

"Cate, come on. It will be ok. It's a shock but it will be for one season." Adam tried to reassure her.

"It's just First Bombay, then Jessie now you." Cate stated "It won't be the same anymore."

"Cate, It's not like I'm going away and not coming back. We still have classes together and we all can hang out." Adam said.

"I know, it's just..." Cate began but then stopped. "I guess I'm just tired" Cate luckily stopped before she said something she didn't want anyone to know yet.

"Come on. My mom was going to pick me up. We can give you a ride home since Charlie seems to have abandoned you." Adam said.

Cate looked around and noticed that Charlie was getting on the bus without her. She frowned then smiled. A car ride with Adam. That could make up for the crummy day she was having. Adam picked up her hockey bag and they walked to the Student parking lot where his mother was waiting for them.

- - - -

"Thank you for the ride Mrs. Banks." Cate said as she stopped the car in front of her building.

"It was my pleasure Cate. Tell your mother that I will call her later., OK." Mrs. Banks said.

Adam walked with her to the door of her building and gave her back her hockey bag.

"So I'll see you tomorrow in class." Cate said.

"Yeah." Adam said He then walked back to the car and then turned around.

"Do you and Charlie want a ride tomorrow?" Adam asked. He turned to his mom and she nodded.

Cate saw the nod and smiled. "yeah that would be great."

Adam smiled and got into the car. Cate smiled and opened the door to her building and walked into the apartment.

END FLASH BACK 

Ok so maybe not everything that had happened the first day was that bad- the ending turned out great. But she was not about to let anyone know that she Caitlin Conway had a crush on Adam Banks- best friend of her brother.

She sighed and grabbed her backpack dragged her hockey bag into her room and fell onto her bed. She decided to take a nap before tackling any of her Math homework.

TBC...


	3. 3

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Chapter 3-

Caitlin woke up the next morning to the sound of her alarm going off at 6:30 AM. She groaned and hit the alarm off. She laid back and then jumped with a start as to why she set the alarm early. School- Uniform-Ride. She quickly made he bed and grabbed her bathrobe and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. She luckily beat her brother (again). 10 minutes later armed with her make up bag (that Julie and Connie forced her to get sometime during the summer), straight iron and blow dryer, she raced back into her room to try and get dressed.

Caitlin looked in the mirror, she did not look that bad in the school uniform. The skirt was regulation a bit above the knees, the blouse was ok, the red tie looked stupid but what can you do. She decided to wear the black v-neck sweater today. She shook her head and sat on her bed to put her socks and shoes on. She went back to the mirror and decided that her hair that she had straightened look ok but added a hair tie around her wrist just in case her hair bugged he during the day. She had put on little make up some mascara, little face powder. That was the best she was going to get to look like a girl.

She walked out of her room and into the kitchen with her backpack. She made sure to check that her hockey bag was already by the front do- it was.

She went and sat down to breakfast. Today was the beginning of "fend for yourself" in the morning. Her mom was one of the managers of Mike's Diner and she had the day shifts. She noticed her mother had already eaten breakfast and was probably in her room finishing getting ready. Casey sighed as she grabbed the cereal box and poured some into a bowl. Then Charlie walked into the kitchen to get breakfast as well.

"Why so glum?" Charlie asked.

"Huh. Oh, no reason" Cate said.

The sibling ate breakfast in silence. Their mother came into the kitchen and said good bye to them and told Charlie to behave at school and Caitlin not to fight with her brother on the way to school.

Charlie looked up and noticed the time and stood up from the table. He rushed back to his room to grab his stuff. Caitlin sighed again and put her's and Charlie's bowls in the sink. She grabbed her backpack and went to the front door and yelled to her brother to lock up and she would meet him downstairs.

Caitlin had just opened the door to the outside when she noticed Mrs. Bank's SUV pull up. Charlie came out the door behind her and walked up to the car. Adam and his mom got out of the car to open the trunk and help the Conway's put their gear in. Charlie and Adam were already putting stuff in the trunk when Caitlin came up to them. Adam turned to her and smiled. He took her hockey bag and Caitlin managed a peak at him in his uniform. He looked good in the khaki pants, white shirt, red necktie and black pull over sweater. Charlie noticed his sister staring and playfully shoved her out of the way.

"Ok kids, get in we need to get you to the rink to put your stuff away." Mrs. Banks said.

The tree Eden Hall students got into the car- Caitlin in the front with Adam and Charlie in the back seats. The drive wasn't too long- they went a different way then the Ducks did yesterday morning and soon found themselves at the Eden Hall gates, Mrs. Banks drove them as close to the rink as she could and dropped them off. She told them that she would be back after practice to take them home and to remind Adam that Connie was coming with them.

Adam, Charlie, and Cate walked to the rink to drop their stuff off. Cate made a detour to the girls locker room and saw Connie and Julie putting their stuff away. She put her stuff in her locker area and turned to the girls. God they actually looked pretty in their uniforms. Cate looked down at herself and wondered why she didn't look as good as them.

Julie noticed that Cate was unhappy and asked her about it.

"What's wrong Caitlin? Did Charlie say something this morning?" Julie asked.

"No. Nothing is wrong, really." Cate said.

"Come on Cate, I've known you since pre-school. Something is bugging you." Connie said.

"Well, its just... you guys look like girls in your uniforms and I look well- stupid." Cate said.

Julie and Connie shared a look and laughed. Cate frowned,

"Oh Cate, trust us you look very pretty in your uniform. You look just like us." They both tried to say.

Cate gave up and left the locker room with Julie and Connie trailing behind her. The two girls were still giggling when they met up with the guys. Charlie and Adam were deep in conversation when they noticed Caitlin walking past them.

"What wrong with Cate?" Charlie asked Julie as he managed to stop one of the two giggling girls.

"Nothing, she is just going to class." Julie said.

"Oh, ok " Charlie said.

The rest of the gang decided to follow Cate's lead and head for the main part of campus. There they split off into their different 1st period classes- history and math.

- - - - -

Lunchtime finally came. Cate was so hungry and all her morning classes had left her with a headache. She got into the lunch line and tried to find something edible. She looked around and spotted a table that had a few of the ducks at it. She went to sit down and said hi to Fulton, Kenny and Russ. Adam, Charlie, Guy, Connie and Julie joined them a minute later with Luis, Averman, Goldberg, Portman and Dwayne after them. Goldberg was trying to convince Julie that since she was the starting goalie she would need more energy for the game- therefore needed to eat more food during the day. Cate shook her head at Goldberg's logic and tried to stop Julie from eating some of the stuff.

Connie told Cate to leave them alone and if Julie had enough sense she wouldn't listen to Goldberg at all.

Adam got up halfway through lunch and said something about a Varsity meeting that he had to attend. The Ducks told him good-bye and Cate followed him with her eyes out the door. She noticed quite a few freshman girls checking him out as he made his way to the door. Then Dwayne interrupted her thoughts by announcing that the housing department needed to see the team during lunch to go over dorm assignments. Everyone quickly finished up and left the lunchroom.

The lady in charge of dorm assignments- Ms Clemens- was a very organized lady. She had each floor of the new Athletic hall color coded to each sport and level (JV on one side of the wing and Varsity on the other) and gender. So she was a little perplexed when the Ducks came in. Out of the 14 Freshman- one was suddenly placed on Varsity and 3 others were female. All 14 of them were suppose to be on the same floor, but with Caitlin, Julie and Connie being female- there was a problem. Adam being on Varsity was a problem that had been solved that morning- he would stay with the JV duck since the rest of the Varsity team was juniors and seniors. But the girl's situation was a different problem- where to find a three-person room on the other floors. She gave the boys their room assignments- Fulton, Portman - Russ, Luis, Kenny - Averman, Guy, -Goldberg, Dwayne-Charlie, Adam. The girls would be together but she sis not know which female floor yet. They could move in this weekend and the guys were given keys to their rooms. Ms Clemens explained that the key cards worked on each floor- the stairways lead to each common room area. After 9pm the keys would not let them into the girls area and the girls into the boys area. After 10 pm the keys would lock them out of the building unless they were with a faculty member who could let them in.

They all just nodded their heads like they understood what she had said. She then gave the boys some papers to fill out and the girls decided to leave since they had no rooms yet.

Connie lead the girls to the bench outside the office and there they sat waiting for the guys to come out. They still had time before their afternoon classes started so they just sat and relaxed.

"Guys what do you think of Portman?" Julie asked.

"He's ok. Good hockey player." Connie said with her eyes closed.

"he's a good friend." Cate said looking out to the main part of school. "Why?"

"Well he asked me to get ice cream with him after practice today and I said yes." Julie said.

Connie and Cate turned to look at her. Julie was smiling and playing with the strap of her backpack.

"I didn't know you liked Portman." Connie said

"Well, I've had a crush on him since the first Iceland game." Julie said

"Wow" was all Cate could say.

Then the guys came out of the building interrupting the rest of the conversation the girls could have. They all walked towards the main building and once they got inside they spilt off into three groups- Julie, Cate, Dwayne, Kenny and Russ to Science. Connie, Charlie and Fulton to Spanish. Portman, Averman, Goldberg, Luis, and Guy to English. Adam joined the science group as soon as they sat down at their lab tables.

- - - - -

Practice was over for the day and Cate thought that she was going to die. She was so tired and sore. She sat on the bench and started to take off her pads. She winced as he say the bruise that was forming on her side. Charlie had checked her hard during practice.

"Don't forget we have to go see Ms Clemens after practice." Julie said.

"oh yeah." Said Connie.

"Hey Cons, your riding home with us right." Cate said.

"Yeah, Adam and I have to start a English project that is due Friday." She said.

Cate nodded and finished taking off her pads. She jumped in the shower and quickly changed back into her school uniform.

As soon as they girls were ready they headed out with all their stuff. Cate saw Adam and Charlie waiting with Averman and Goldberg outside.

"Hey my mom's running a little late." Adam said.

"That's ok. We have to go get out dorm keys." Connie said.

"Can you watch out stuff?" Julie asked.

"Sure. But if you don't come back I might have to sell it." Charlie said.

"Don't worry we will watch it " Adam said.

The girls made the trek up to Ms Clemens office, filled out the paper work, got their keys and were given the same lecture the boys had been given during lunch. The girls had been placed on the same floor and the tennis and equestrian team, They had the least amount of girls on their floors and Ms Clemens thought that the girls would get along. The girls left the building and sprinted back to where they left the boys.

Mrs. Banks was waiting for Connie and Cate when they came back to the rink. Julie said good bye and walked back to her dorm room with Portman. They had a "date" and Julie wanted to change before they went. Cate and Connie waved to Julie and told her to have fun, Charlie and Adam were to busy talking in the back to notice. Cate got in beside her brother and Adam got out and went to the front so Connie could sit in the back with Cate.

The siblings were dropped off and went inside.

Cate opened the door and dropped her stuff on the floor,

"Don't you ever pick up after yourself?" Charlie muttered as he maneuvered himself around Cate's hockey bag.

"Oh, like you every pick up after yourself." Cate snapped back.

"Are you ok?" Charlie asked.

"Fine." Cate said. She picked up her hockey bag and dragged it to her room.

Charlie shook his head at her retreating back and went to the kitchen to get something to eat.

TBC....


	4. 4

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Chapter 4-

A few weeks had passed and the Ducks had settled into freshman life at Eden Hall. All of the Ducks- now JV Warriors- were living on campus and struggling with all the homework that the teachers were assigning them. They were very tired after practice with one a few days left until their first game.

They were trying to stay away from the Varsity team as O'Rion told them- but it was kind of hard when one of your best friends was on Varsity. Charlie and Adam's friendship was a little shaky at times. One incident that started this was when one of the Varsity member- Cole- started picking on Kenny. Charlie and Guy came up with a way to get back at them-, which resulted in the entire student body chasing after the two teams during lunch one day.

So now Cate was sitting in her dorm room- practice had ended about an hour ago and she was trying to do her Science homework. Biology was not her strong point and she was ready to give up and wait until Julie got back from her meeting she had with the Student Council. Julie was deciding if she wanted to join the council as a freshman officer. Connie was out at the library researching for a history paper she has due in two days.

Cate decided to take her Math homework and go sit in the commons area. Maybe one of her teammates was out there and she could talk to them. She took her key card and went to the floor below where the boy's dorms were. Sure enough Adam, Luis and Fulton were there.

"Hey Cate" Luis said as she came and sat down with them. All of them were still in their uniforms because they still had not eaten dinner yet.

"Hey- have you guess done the Math homework yet?" She asked.

"Finished" Luis said. "Different teacher " Fulton said.

"I'm still working on it " Adam said.

"Great so you can help me?" asked Cate

"Sure, what number are you stuck on?" Adam asked.

Soon Cate and Adam were working on their math homework. Adam explained an easier way to do some of the problems then the way that their teacher explained in class. As soon as Math was done Averman came in to tell them that they had to get to dinner- and the boys needed their blazers. Cate went back up to her room and found that Connie had returned. They grabbed their blazers and Julie's and headed down the stairs. They found Adam, Fulton, Portman and Averman waiting for them.

As they got closer to the dinning hall- they caught up to Julie and Charlie. Charlie was ranting to Julie about some girl he had met in the hallway who was starting a petition to get the mascot name changed. She had said he was a jock and all jocks stick together.

"Oh, you mean Linda." Adam said. "Yeah I met her, she stopped trying to have a conversation with me a few days ago when I showed up with Riley and Cole to lunch."

"Linda- the brunette. Oh yeah- she does not like sports for some reason." Luis said.

Cate breathed a sigh of relief. This Linda girl was not a threat- she had seen her in the hall this morning trying to get Cate and Connie to sign her petition. But when Connie said that they were both on the hockey team- she stormed away.

They entered the Dinning Hall and Adam was pulled away from the team. Riley said that Adam needed to eat dinner with the Varsity team and not JV losers.

Charlie just fumed at Riley while Connie and Julie pulled him towards the table the JV team had claimed as their own weeks before. Cate chanced a glance at Adam and Adam looked back at her with a sad smile.

- - - -

Finally it was time for the JV team's first game. They were playing the Bears.

It was pretty much a boring game. The JV team was no match for the Bears. They kept scoring and scoring. Julie had complained after the 1st period that she was so bored- no one was taking any shots on her. Cate and Connie had noticed the Varsity team watching them and had waved to Adam. Adam tried to wave back- but Riley stopped him from doing that.

Everything changed in the 3rd period- their 9 –0 lead had suddenly changed from nine to zero. They ended up in a tie. Everyone was so depressed- a tie. Cate had seen the Varsity team leave when it was 9-5 to get ready for their game.

The JV team walked into the main locker room and O'Rion had a talk with them. The girls were standing up to leave when Guy had asked where were his clothes. The boys looked at each other then at their lockers. Russ came out of the shower room and told them to follow him. There they found all of the boy's warm-ups. Connie signaled the girls and the three of them ran as best they could with all their padding to their locker room. They were lucky- no one had come into their locker room. So while the girls were showering and changing into their warm-ups the guys were sending people up to the dorm rooms for clothes.

Russ came up with a brilliant way to get back at them. Freeze their clothes. Julie and a couple of the guys decided to help Russ out. Cate and Connie declined because they wanted to live the next day. Julie said that the boys would get back at them anyway because they were part of the team - plus Portman said he would protect her.

Their mother was lecturing Charlie after the game about unsportsman like conduct so he would be a while. Cate had convinced Connie to come with her to watch the Varsity game. She agreed only because she had a feeling that something was up with Cate. The Varsity team won their game and left the rink to go change. Julie caught up with the girls and tried to get them out of there but Adam's parents stopped them. Mrs. Banks wanted to know how school was going and did they like Eden Hall. Mr. Banks was commenting on the JV game and said that Julie did a good job trying to block all the shots in the 3rd period. He said that he was sorry to see that Connie and Cate did not get much playing time in the 3rd period- Luis had taken Cate spot on First line after she let a player get by her and score.

Mr. and Mrs. Banks soon left the girls and went to go find Adam. Julie finally was able to get the female members of the team away from the rink and to their dorm room where they could hide out until things blew over.

- - -

The Varsity team found them the next morning and invited them to a JV/Varsity dinner the next Friday. Riley said something about it being a tradition. Adam even told them that it was legit and it would be fun.

The JV team got by the weekend with out any incidents. Monday morning came along with another fun filled week of uniforms, school and practice.

Cate was sitting on her bed putting on her shoes when there was a knock on her door. She opened it to find one of the Equestrian girls. Her name was Alice and Cate had two classes with her. Alice wanted to borrow a hair dryer since hers just died. Julie walked into the room from the bathroom and handed hers to Alice. Alice promised to bring it right back.

Connie came into the room and put on her tie and announced she was going to breakfast. Alice came back with the hair dryer and walked with the girls. When they got outside they found Dwayne and Kenny walking along the path to the dinning hall.

"So do you guys just seem to know where each other is during the day?" Alice asked.

"What do you mean?" Julie asked.

"Well I have noticed that you guys are almost always together- as a team." Alice clarified.

"Well we do have twins on the team " Connie pointed out.

"Yet my twin radar must be off since I have no idea where my brother is at the moment " Cate added.

"I think it's cause we have been together as a team for more than four years." Connie explained. "We all know where each other is on and off the ice- it's this weird thing we have."

"Well it's kind of neat." Alice said. "My team doesn't have any classes together and were only see each other at practice or meals. We don't really have anything in common except for the love of riding."

"Well you can hang out with us." Kenny said as the girls caught up to him and Dwayne.

"Thanks. I'll take you up on that offer some time." Alice said.

The entered the Dinning hall and split off to their tables. Connie and Julie went to get in line while Cate went off to talk to Adam for a second.

She received some glares from the Varsity team as she walked up to the table.

"Hey Adam, Can we work on our Bio homework after practice today? I need some help with chapter 4." Cate asked.

"Sure. Meet in the library at 4:30?" Adam said

"Yeah. Around 4:30." Cate said. She then walked to the food line and got something to eat. As she was walking away she heard someone comment to Adam that he had a "cute girlfriend" and heard Adam respond, "She's just a friend" That hurt her feelings.

She was depressed as she sat down across from Julie and Portman. They had decided that they were going to try the dating thing and see how that went. Cate shook her head at them. Connie sat down beside Cate and noticed her friend was not eating. She noticed the look that Cate was giving Julie and Portman and thought it had something to do with them. She decided that she would talk to Cate after breakfast.

They were leaving the dinning hall when Connie decided to talk to Cate. Bu before she had the chance Dean Buckley came up to them and asked to speak with Portman.

Cate and Julie shared a look and Julie shrugged.

"He couldn't have found out that it was us?" Julie asked.

"Maybe he is just questioning him?" Cate replied.

"Or it could have nothing to do with the game?" Connie reasoned.

"Portman will tell us later. We have to get to class." Cate said and walked off. She had noticed Adam coming through the doors and kind of wanted to be away from him- which would be hard considering they had almost all of their classes together.

- - -

Lunch came and Cate was exhausted. It was hard trying to stay away from Adam and not talk to him. He tried to strike up a conversation three times but Cate faked different excuses to get away from him. Adam had no idea what was wrong and was determined to figure out why his friend was not talking to him. Connie had talked to him during classes and they reached a tentative verdict that it could be three things 1) Judie and Portman 2) Charlie did something or 3) Adam did something.

Cate sat down at the table with her lunch and looked down the table. Almost everyone was there except Portman. Hmm come to think of it Portman wasn't in English as well. Adam sat across from Cate and tried to get her attention. But Cate was ignoring him and talking to Kenny about the History project the entire freshman class had been assigned that morning.

Cate finished her lunch before everyone else and decided she was going to spend some time outside reading before Science. Adam took this opportunity to follow her and talk to her.

"Hey Cate are you ok?" Adam asked sitting besides her on the grass.

"No" she said into her book.

Adam took the book out of her hands and that caused her to look at him.

"Come on Cate. Something is wrong. You won't talk to Connie so you have to talk to me." Adam said.

Cate just looked at him and crossed her arms.

"is it Julie and Portman?" Adam asked.

Cate laughed "No, why would I have a problem with them."

"Did Charlie do something to make you mad?" Adam asked.

"When has he ever not done something to me." Cate said.

"Good point. Well then it is probably me. What have I done.?" Adam asked.

"Nothing. Adam that's just it you have done nothing." Cate said.

Adam looked over at her and saw that she was staring out at everyone who was coming out of the Dinning Hall. A couple of cheerleaders waved at him and he waved back. He also saw that he expression clouded over when the cheerleaders came by.

Connie came out and sat with them. As soon as she sat down Cate muttered an excuses about class and ran off.

Adam turned to Connie and told him about their conversation even his observation about Cate when the girls walked by. Connie pondered for a moment and asked, "Exactly when did this start again?"

"This morning after breakfast. She asked he to help her with bio. She walked away and Scott made a comment that I thought she did not hear." Adam said.

"What comment. You didn't tell me that before." Connie demanded

"Scott asked if she was my girlfriend and I said no she was a friend " Adam said.

In Connie's mind a light bulb went off. How could she be so blind? Of course, it all made sense the comments a few weeks ago, the comment this morning and all those looks she saw Cate giving Adam all these years. Cate had a crush on Adam. She had to tell Julie.

"Adam, don't worry. It's probably nothing and she will be back to normal in a day or two." Connie reassured him

"Ok" Adam said.

They got up and went to Science class.

TBC.....


	5. 5

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Chapter 5-

Cate was so happy when the final bell rang to end school. She had a headache from listening to the Spanish Teacher talk about conjugating verbs and the forms for the –ar, -er, and –ir endings. She stood up out of her seat and dashed out of the classroom and towards her dorm to drop off her bag and head up to the rink for practice. One good thing about being an athlete was that she had only 6 classes instead of 7 like the other students. Her final class of the day was Athlete PE, which meant practice.

Connie and Julie had not shown up to the room, which Cate noticed with a smile. She put down her bag and grabbed her hockey skates. She did not trust leaving them in the locker room. She knew she was being paranoid, but Charlie had his ways of getting back at her or sending someone else to do it.

She walked to the ice rink and in the JV girl's locker room. Julie was inside changing into her practice gear.

"Hey." Julie said as Cate walked in.

"Hey" Cate said back and went to her locker and began to change.

""Umm Cate. Was Portman in Bio this afternoon?" Julie asked.

"Nope." Cate said. She turned to Julie " Come to think of it, he wasn't in English either this morning."

"I tried asking the guys- but they weren't much help and I don't have any classes with Fulton." Julie replied.

Connie then rushed into the locker room and announced that Coach O'Rion wanted a meeting on the ice as soon as the team was finished changing into their practice gear.

Connie, Julie and Cate walked out to the ice and found that they were the last one to the meeting. O'Rion gave the girls a look that meant- get ready faster.

"I'm sure that you have noticed a member of your team is missing. Dean Portman had to return to Chicago for a family emergency and is not expected back for the next week. His grandmother is very ill and has been hospitalized. His parents wished for him to come home and be with the family. Portman will be returning to school but we do not know exactly when, maybe sometime before the big JV/Varsity game." Said O'Rion.

Everyone just looked at each other after that statement. Poor Portman, Cate thought. He was very close to his grandmother.

"Because we are now down an enforcer, I have asked Goldberg to step into a more defensive role. He will be moving from goalie to defensive wing. I know that you will all be more than willing to help him out. Also I am changing the lines for our game on Wed."

The team nodded and Cate looked over at Goldberg who was looking a little pale but otherwise happy about the change.

"Alright let's begin practice." O'Rion said.

- - - -

Cate sigh as she closed her locker door and put her pads away. She looked down at her skates and tossed them to the other side of the bench. She had noticed that she didn't have a good "grip" on the ice with them. Maybe it was time to get new one or sharpen them. Sharpen them; mom wouldn't let her get a new pair until her birthday in January.

"So what are your plans before dinner?" Connie asked.

"I have to go see my History teacher about that freshman project." Julie said.

"Oh man." Cate said. "I have to be in the library in like three minutes." She quickly pulled her sweater on over her white shirt and grabbed her red tie. She stuffed her pads in her locker, threw her practice uniform into the basket to be washed and ran out towards the dorms.

She paused in the dorms long enough to drop off her skates- which resulted in a broken shoe lace and grab her bio book and notebook. She looked at the calendar and saw that it was a Blue day- which meant Blazers Night and grabbed that too.

- - - -

Cate finally made it to the library. She had some issues with her skates as she was trying to put them away. She was lucky that the JV team had a day off tomorrow before their game on Wed. She decided that she needed to go visit Han's Skate shop and see about some new laces and get her blades sharpened. She had asked Connie to come with her and she agreed.

Adam looked up and found a frustrated Cate entering the library and scanning the study area looking for him. He saw her notice him and hurry to his table.

"Sorry. Issues with my skates." Cate said.

"No problem." Adam said.

"So, Bio. I don't understand the chapter we are studying." Cate said as she opened her book.

Adam then proceeded to help Cate understand what they have been learning in Bio the last week. He couldn't understand why she wasn't understanding anything- she seemed to know what the jest of the concepts were.

"Cate is something bothering you?" Adam asked.

"The world" Cate replied back as she was finishing answering a question from the text.

"No really. Come on, I'm your friend. You can talk to me." Adam said

Cate said the first thing on her mind, "Portman went home. Now I'm down two friends on the team."

Adam paused then said, "Yeah, but he'll be back Cate. And I may be on a different team, but I'm still here."

Cate looked at him and bite her lip. Should she tell him what was really wrong or not? She debated the question for ten more minutes. She really liked Adam but she had no idea what to do. Maybe ask Connie and Julie- wait the whole team would know in like two seconds if she did that. Maybe an impartial party would be better.

Cate just sighed and looked at her watch. "We're going to be late to dinner." She said as she packed up her books and began to stand up.

"Cate, things will get better. I promise." Adam said.

Cate tried to smile but it was a heartless attempt. They walked to the Dinning Hall and joined their friends.

- - - - -

The next day as soon as classes were over Cate and Connie got on the bus to head into town. Cate was on a mission to fix her skates. Connie was along for the ride and maybe check out the new hockey sticks.

It was only a 10-minute ride to Han's Shop and Hans was of course very happy to see two of the original female ducks.

"Ahh. My little Freshman Ducks. How is school treating you?" Hans asked as the girls gave him hugs.

"School is tiring, lots of work and hockey is going great." Connie said.

"School is great. Hockey is tiring." Cate said.

Hans chuckled at Cate's reply and took her skates to the back to get sharpened. Connie and Cate began looking around the store to see what new things had come in. Cate wondered over to the skates and saw a couple of pairs she might have to ask her mom to buy. She looked at the prices at some of them and prayed that her mom would say yes.

Cate found the laces that she needed and had to pull Connie away from the clothes. Connie protested that she needed some new tops but Cate won the argument by stating they went to a school where uniforms were required. Connie hung her head and went back to looking at hockey sticks. Cate and Connie were not the only ones in the store so they knew that they had to behave. As Cate was looking over the hockey sticks, she saw a brother and sister with their dad getting hockey skates. A couple of teenagers looking at jerseys and a few new workers wondering around trying to help people.

Cate and Connie were looking at the pictures on Han's wall. The girls were proud to see that their team seemed to dominate most of the wall. There was their team picture from peewees, the article about them being Team USA, their Team USA picture, the picture when they won the Junior Goodwill Games and the whole team with their scholarships.

Soon a boy about two years older than them came to the front with Cate's skates.

"Hans had to take a phone order. Is there anything else you need?" The guy named Kyle said.

"Just the laces." Cate said

"Ok" Kyle said.

As Cate was counting out the money she owed. Kyle tried to make small talk with the girls.

"So Hans tells me you girls are on a high school hockey team." Kyle said.

"Yup, we play for Eden Hall Academy " Connie said

"Cool." Kyle said as he took the money Cate handed him.

"It's fun." Cate added.

"Well maybe I'll have to check out one of your games sometime." Kyle said giving Cate her change.

Cate was of course oblivious to the attention that Kyle was trying to give her. Connie saw this and wheels were spinning in her head.

"We have a game tomorrow at 5pm." Connie said.

"I'll try to come." Kyle said.

Cate gave Connie a look as the girls made their way out of the shop. Cate decided that maybe Connie was losing her mind inviting strange boys that they just met to their hockey game and dragged her to the bus stop to get them back to school.

- - - - -

The JV team played the next day and won. Cate saw Connie looking in the stands after their win. She shrugged her shoulders.

"Guess he couldn't make it." Connie said.

Cate shook her head and headed towards the locker room to change. She asked Connie and Julie to watch the Varsity game with her. They both said yes. When they sat down Fulton and Russ joined them. They said the others had homework to do before the late dinner and would meet them in the dinning hall.

Cate just nodded and focused her attention on Adam who was warming up on the ice. She wished that she could tell him how she felt, but knew it was a lost cause. There were other girls who were prettier than her who could easily grab Adam's attention.

The Varsity team won their game, but Adam did not get any playing time. The four JV players got up to go congratulate Adam. As they were making their way down the bleachers they found Luis and Kenny waiting for them. They stopped and talked with them knowing that Adam would take a few minutes to change. A couple of classmates came up to them and congratulated them on their win. A few sophomore guys came up to talk to the girls but Cate was looking at the hallway to distracted to talk to them.

Finally Adam came out and the six of them went up to him. Connie and Julie gave him hugs while Cate just hung back. Adam noticed an immediate change in her demeanor and wondered what was up. They walked to the Dinning Hall and found the rest of the guys already sitting down to eat. When they got their food they joined them.

"Thanks so much for waiting for us." Julie said sitting down next to Averman.

"Yeah you guys are real gentleman." Connie added taking the seat next to Charlie.

"Hey Banks is the one here with manners" Goldberg said.

The girls just glared at him. Adam and Cate took the seats at the end of the table and everyone went back to eating.

Everyone began talking about plans for the week. Guy reminded them about the dinner on Friday and Charlie asked Adam for more details.

"Well, it's a tradition for the Varsity team to take the JV team out to dinner before the JV/Varsity game. The Varsity team is going to drive us to the restaurant and they are paying for the meal. I know that it is a nice restaurant, and the guys need to wear their school blazers. Umm I guess you girls know how you should look?" Adam said.

"Don't worry about us Adam, we know what to do." Connie said.

Cate looked up in surprise- nice dinner! That meant she would have to wear a dress. Oh the week was just getting worst. It was bad enough that she wore a skirt everyday, but now a dress.

Everyone began getting up at putting his or her trays away. The boys began heading off towards the dorms while the girls hung back to talk.

"So what are you wearing?" Connie asked.

"I think the dress I wore for the press conference." Julie said.

"Don't look at me, I have two dresses and no matter what I will look stupid in them." Cate said.

"Don't worry, everything will be ok." Connie said as they walked up the steps into the Athletic Hall.

The girls said good night to the guys and went to their floor.

TBC....


	6. 6

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Thanks to my reviewers- love you guys lots and lots.

Chapter 6-

It was finally the night of the JV/Varsity Dinner. Julie, Cate and Connie were busy getting ready in their dorm room. Alice and her roommate Karen were helping Cate with her hair and makeup. The four girls decided that for the dinner Cate was going to look like a girl whether she wanted to or not.

Cate had tried to protest but she ended up with four girls taller than her string her down. So her she was, sitting in her desk chair with Alice doing her makeup and Karen styling her hair. Connie was deciding between two dressed while Julie was trying to find her dress shoes in the mess that was their closet.

"There- a masterpiece." Alice said as she closed the eye shadow in her hand.

"Hair is done." Karen said.

Connie and Julie rushed over to look at Cate.

"Great job girls." Connie said.

"Thanks" Alice and Karen said, Alice then packed up Cate's makeup and put it on the dresser and pulled Cate up so that she could see herself in the mirror.

Cate stared at her reflection she actually looked pretty. She couldn't believe it.

"Maybe a certain boy will finally get his act toget.." Julie started to say but was quickly hushed by Connie.

Cate didn't respond, she was to busy staring at herself in the mirror.

"Well our work is done. Tell us all about dinner when you get back." Alice said as she and Karen left their room.

"Come on the boys will be waiting for us." Julie said grabbing her purse and coat.

Connie grabbed her purse, coat and Cate's stuff as well. Julie ended up dragging Cate away from the mirror and out into the hallway.

The girls made it to the 1st floor where the JV Boys and Varsity Boys were waiting for them. Julie came down the main stairs first, and then Connie and Cate last. Since Cate was last she could see the expression on the rest of her teammates faces when the girls came out. Julie looked pretty in her Navy blue dress and matching sweater. She went and stood next to Dwayne and Kenny. When Connie came down in her black flower print dress she thought that Charlie was going to keel over. Charlie likes Connie?? Wow that was something new. She noticed that Connie went and stood next to Charlie. Finally she just rolled her eyes and walked down the stairs. When she hit the bottom step she heard Charlie say "What did you do to my sister."

"Nothing, she already had it all, we just helped her to emphasis it," Connie said.

Cate discretely looked over to see what Adam thought but noticed that he was not part of the group. Guy came up to her and told her that Adam went with Riley and Scott to the restaurant to make sure their banquet room was ready.

The Varsity team then divided the team up into cars to get them to the restaurant.

- - - -

The food was really good at the Minnesota Club. Everyone had steak, potatoes and salad. During dinner Cate noticed that the two teams seemed to be getting along. She saw Riley sitting next to Charlie, Cole talking with Fulton and Scott was making conversation with Goldberg and Julie. Connie and Cate were sitting to the right and left of Adam- he and Scott were the only ones who were willing to sit next the girls.

Cate noticed that Adam spent a lot of time talking to Connie. She was a little hurt by this, but decided it would not ruin her evening. When Connie got up to use the restroom, Adam finally acknowledged her presence.

"Cate, you look really pretty." Adam said.

"Thanks." Cate said taking a bit of her potatoes.

"No, you look different. Like a girl." Adam said.

"Funny Adam, Last time I checked I was a girl." Cate said looking at him.

Cate saw the hurt look come across his face and was about to apologies when Riley came up to them and asked Adam to come with him.

Then Cate noticed that the entire Varsity team had left the room.

"I think it's a cake." Averman said.

"What's a cake." Cate asked.

"Dessert- I think it's the surprise that they are bringing in." Charlie said.

Sure enough a cake was rolled in. But what was written on it was what made the JV team upset. THANKS FOR DINNER LOSERS. Charlie groaned when the waiter handed them the check.

"Varsity is supposed to pay for this." Luis said.

Julie and Guy took the bill and asked to speak to the manager. While they were doing that the waiters in the room began to clear away the plates. Julie and Guy came back in twenty minutes later and said that the school was straitening it out and sending someone with a check and transportation to pick them up. They left the banquet room and went out to the lobby area. Sure enough eight minutes later Dean Buckley's secretary and the Athletic Director were at the Club check in hand to fix the problem that the Varsity team caused. They paid the manager and herded the team into the two school vans that they brought. The Athletic Director promised to speak to the Varsity coach on Monday. The Dean's secretary let them into the Athletic Hall and told them to go to bed.

But the JV team was too upset and wired to go to sleep. Charlie told them that they needed to get back at the Varsity team. They decided to go to the girls floor commons area and talk.

Alice and some of her teammates were watching a movie on the TV when the hockey team came in. Alice noticed the looks on their faces and paused the movie.

"What's wrong.?" Alice asked.

"The Varsity team left us at the restaurant and made us pay the bill." Guy said as he sat down on one of the couches.

"That sucks." Said Karen.

"Yeah and now we need to come up with a way to get them back." Charlie said.

"Just as long as I don't lose my scholarship." Russ said. That statement got glares from the entire team.

The JV girls on Alice's team decided to go to bed leaving Alice and Karen to help the hockey team plot revenge on the Varsity.

Somehow they ended up deciding to break into the Dean's office and "borrow" his ant colony and set them free onto the team. Alice and Karen were giving them access to the horses to help them keep watch on the ground. They all went to their rooms and changed into black clothing.

"I personally think that this is the stupidest idea that we have come up with" Julie announced.

"I second that." Connie and Cate added.

They met up with Alice and Karen who had the keys to the stables. They went to the lobby and met up with the boys. It was decided that Julie, Karen, Alice, Dwayne and Averman would go to the stables. Connie and Guy would be look out for the Dean's office. Fulton, Charlie and Russ would get the ants. Luis and Kenny would hit the science labs. Cate would stay in the Athletic Hall to let everyone back in. Goldberg and Megan (a teammate of Alice's) would be in charge of stacking out the Varsity Dorms.

The plan went off without a hitch and they really made the Varsity team mad. It was decided that they would set the little prank war on the ice the next morning. It would be the JV Ducks against the Varsity Warriors- no coaches. Riley could get them in the rink at 6 AM. Both teams agreed and everyone quickly went back to their dorm rooms. The Varsity team never did find out how the JV team accomplished their prank nor did they find out that the equestrian team helped them out.

TBC...


	7. 7

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Chapter 7-

Cate woke up with a groan. Who on earth set the alarm for 5 AM on a Saturday morning? She reached over to turn it off when she felt two hands grab hers and yank her out of bed.

"Cate wake up!" Julie said.

"Come on we have to get to the rink and warm up." Connie added.

Cate blinked her eyes open and stared at her roommates. Why were they always so happy so early in the morning? She continued to stare at them as they dragged her out of bed and threw her warm ups at her. Cate looked at her warm ups and back at the girls. What was going on?

Connie sighed, looked at Julie and they nodded their heads. Julie went over grabbed a bag and proceeded to put Cate's skates, Duck uniform and her own in. Connie meanwhile placed Cate's warm up jacket over her shoulders and pulled her out of the room.

"Cate we have a game." Connie whispered.

"Game, what game- it's Saturday morning." Cate complained.

Julie shook her head and smiled- Cate never was really coherent early in the morning.

"Cate remember- the **game**." Connie said.

Cate just nodded not really comprehending what Connie was saying to her. The girls just sighed and quickly and quietly made their way out of the Athletic Hall pulling a sleepy Cate with them.

- - - - - -

Connie and Julie somehow managed to get Cate into the locker room and in front of her locker. That's when Cate began to show signs of recognition. Oh yeah, they were playing the Varsity team today. She open her locker and began pulling out pads and putting them on her body. Julie handed over her Ducks uniform and Cate smiled at it. It felt good to place the familiar garment over her head. She grabbed her skates, helmet and stick and followed the girls out to the ice.

It was really creepy walking into the rink that was half way lit up. The Varsity team only turned on the lights above the ice in order not to alert anyone to their presence.

Cate sat on the bench and put on her skates. Charlie and Guy sat down next to her and tried to get her more awake.

"Here drink this." Charlie said handing his sister a cup of warm liquid.

"What is it?" Cate asked.

"It's coffee- with a shot of espresso in it. It should get you awake." Guy said with a grin.

"Whatever works." Cate said as she drank the drink.

The Ducks warmed up for about 15 minutes and then took their places at the bench.

"Ok guys- this is our time to prove to the Varsity team that we can play hockey." Charlie said. Cate rolled her eyes- Charlie wasn't that great at the motivational speeches just yet- especially so early in the morning.

Charlie as "Captain" decided that himself, Fulton, Cate, Julie, Connie and Guy would start the game. Luis and the others would change it up when the starters got tired. Julie and Goldberg would switch off in goal if Julie got too tired.

Charlie and Riley faced off with the puck in the middle. They each slapped their sticks on the group three times and then the game started.

Cate and Connie tried to stay out of the way of the enforcers on the Varsity team the first couple of minutes. The Varsity was brutal and checking them into the walls. Neither goalie was giving up a shot yet and the defense on both teams was tough the first 20 minutes.

Luis subbed in for Cate so that she could catch her breathe. Her sides were hurting from sprinting and being checked into the boards. She needed a few minutes to catch her breath before she would go out again. While she was sitting out the Varsity team managed to score 2 goals on Julie. When Guy scored one for her team, she caught Kenny's attention and subbed in for him.

Julie caught the puck that Riley sent at her and launched it into Cate's direction. Cate found that she was open and started for the goal. She saw Guy and Charlie on her left and decided to send the puck to them. As soon as she hit the puck into their direction Cole and another Senior checked her hard into the boards. Her right shoulder hit hard and she slide to the ground. She heard Connie and Dwayne call out to her and noticed a Varsity jersey heading for her. She closed her eyes and braced for impact. Instead she heard a voice calling out her name.

"Cate. Cate. Caitlin." Adam said.

Cate opened her eyes and saw Adam staring down at her.

"Cate, are you ok? Can you stand up?" Adam asked.

Cate tried to sit up but felt a sharp pain on her right shoulder.

"I think I'm hurt." Cate said in a small voice.

By that time Connie and Dwayne had reached her side. Charlie and Guy came over as well.

"Get away from my sister." Charlie yelled at Adam.

"Charlie she's hurt." Adam said looking at him.

Cate looked up at her team and noticed that everyone was standing around.

"Riley called a time out." Guy explained.

"Cate can you stand up?" Connie asked.

"I don't know. Haven't tried yet." Cate said

Adam reached out to help her up, but was pushed aside by Charlie.

"I said not to touch my sister." Charlie said.

"Charlie, she's my friend too and she's hurt." Adam tried to reason with Charlie.

That's when peace ended. Adam and Charlie began arguing over the welfare of Cate and suddenly they began fighting. Guy and Dwayne had managed to get Cate up. Cate tried yelling at them to stop fighting. But it was no use. Soon both teams were trying to separate the two friends and that's when the rest of the rink lights came on. Cate and Guy looked up and noticed Coach Wilson and Coach O'Rion sprinting towards them.

"Break it up." Both coaches yelled trying to pry the boys apart.

Wilson managed to get most of his team to clear away from Charlie and Adam leaving the two boys glaring at each other.

O'Rion pushed Adam towards the Varsity team and told him to leave. He then turned to look at the JV team and noticed that Guy was trying to keep Cate up.

"What is going on?" O'Rion barked.

"Cate got checked into the boards." Averman supplied.

"Connie. Julie. Take Cate to the Trainers." O'Rion said.

Connie and Julie slide over to take Cate away from Guy and began walking towards the exit off the ice. They heard O'Rion yelling at the rest of the team as they made their way off the ice. They had to pass the Varsity locker rooms and heard Wilson yelling at his team as well. They went to their locker room to try and change themselves into regular shoes and take off Cate's bottom padding and put on her warm ups. When they entered the training room they were still wearing the tops of their jerseys but their warm up bottoms and regular shoes.

The Trainers took over when the girls explained what happened. Julie and Connie had to help Cate take off her upper padding so that the Head Trainer David could check out her arm. After some analysis, he told her that she had just hit her shoulder wrong and it would be bruised for a few days. He went and grabbed some ice. She would have to sit out for the rest of the week and come back for treatments starting Wed. They would continue to ice her shoulder and see how it was doing in a couple of days. She was to stay in the Training Room for 20 minutes so that they could ice her shoulder today. David was going to find O'Rion and tell him the verdict on her shoulder.

Cate sat on one of the tables with ice wrapped to her right shoulder staring at the posters on the wall when Adam walked in. Connie and Julie had left when the ice was wrapped on her shoulder to get their stuff out of the locker room.

"Hey Cate." Adam said. "What's the verdict?" He came and stood near her.

"I'm out for the rest of the week." Cate said not looking at him.

O'Rion came in and headed over to them.

"Conway, David told me what's going on. You are out for this week but might be able to practice next week." Said O'Rion.

Cate nodded and continued to stare at the posters on the wall.

"Continue to come to practice and you'll sit the bench with us on Friday." O'Rion added. "Don't worry you'll be back with us in no time." He patted her good shoulder.

He looked at Adam and Cate and walked away. Adam came and sat besides Cate and gave her a hug.

"Cate, you scared me when you went down." Adam said.

Cate looked at him in surprise.

"I mean it. I thought those goons could have killed you." Adam admitted.

Cate tried to open her mouth to speak but Adam continued talking.

"Cate I was so worried, I know that you girls say that you can handle yourselves out on the ice. But when you went down something inside just about died." Adam said looking down at his hands.

"Adam.." Cate began.

"No, Cate let me finish. I realized something this morning, I. I really care about you, like more than a friend and I wish that it didn't take you getting hurt for me to realize it." Said Adam.

"Really, you like me more than a friend." Cate asked.

"Yeah" Adam said brushing some of her hair out of her face.

Cate smiled at him and was about to respond back when one of the trainers walked in to take the ice off of Cate. Adam scooted over and let the man cut the plastic wrap off Cate's arm.

"Now you need to come back later today for more ice on your shoulder and then again tomorrow. If you continue to have pain take some of these extra strength Tylenol. If the pains is persistent come back and we will decided whether or not to take you to the hospital." Said the trainer. "The campus doctor agrees with me that it is just a bruise sine you seem to have soreness and no sharp pain."

"Ok." Cate said taking the medicine into her good hand.

"Make sure you walk her to her room and if she complains about anything bring her back." The trainer said to Adam.

"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on her." Adam said with a smile.

The trainer then walked over to a drawer and pulled out a sling. He placed it on Cate and he and Adam placed her right arm in it.

Adam and Cate left the Training Room and headed for the dorms.

"Julie told me that she brought your stuff up to your room." Adam said as they walked up the path towards the Athletic Hall.

"Thanks." Cate said.

"It's 9 AM, do you want to get breakfast?" Adam asked as they walked into their building.

"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry." Cate admitted.

Adam walked Cate all the way to her door and told her that he would wait for her in the commons area. He started to walk away but came back and gave her another hug and said that he was happy she was ok. Connie chose that moment to open the door and she saw Adam and Cate hugging.

"Finally." Connie squealed.

Cate and Adam turned to look at the girl.

"I mean finally you come back from the training room. Julie and I have been wondering when you would return." Connie said.

"Cate and I are going to get breakfast. Umm she might need help getting ready." Adam said gesturing to the sling.

"No prob, she'll be ready in a few minutes." Connie said pulling Cate inside.

- - - - -

Cate, Adam, Connie and Julie entered the Dinning Hall 15 minutes later. It had been a struggle getting a top on Cate that wouldn't harm her too much. In the end she was wearing on of Julies tank tops and one of Connie's button up sweaters and her own pants and shoes.

They got in line with Adam and Connie carrying Cate's food and found the JV team eating at one of the tables. Nobody looked in a great mood. In fact people seemed to be missing.

"What's up?" Julie asked.

"Charlie and Fulton quit the team." Russ said.

The four newcomers were stunned. Charlie quit- he was like the heart of the team.

"What?!?!" Cate said.

"O'Rion yelled and said this isn't the peewees and yada yada." Averman said.

"Yeah then Charlie said you were breaking up the best thing we ever had or something like that." Guy added.

"Then he and Fulton stormed off the ice." Russ said.

"Oh yeah- he took our Duck jerseys." Luis said.

Adam, Cate, Julie and Connie looked at them in disbelief- Charlie and Fulton gone- the jerseys gone. Well the four of them had their still since they were not a part of the yelling match.

They ate breakfast in silence and one by one drifted away to go off any do their own things.

Adam and Cate were left at the table since Cate was having a hard time eating left handed.

"Cate about what I said in the training room." Adam began. "I want you to know that I really do mean it. "

Cate looked at him and smiled. "I feel the same way." she admitted.

"Really." Adam said with a smile.

"Yes really. Actually for a while now- since the Goodwill Games." Cate admitted.

"Wow." Adam said sitting back in his chair.

When Cate was finished he picked up her tray and they stood up. He put the trays back and they went and spent the day in the dorm commons area (the girl's floor- they were staying away from the Varsity team) and did their homework- or in Cate's case tried to do homework, since she was right-handed Adam had to write out most of her answers. But that was ok, later Cate was going to transfer all her answers to Julie's computer and print them out.

Cate and Adam spent the day together- doing homework and hanging out with their friends. Cate was puzzled over Charlie's change of heart and tried to get in touch with their mother, but she was out most of the day.

Cate went to bed that night with a smile. Adam had admitted that he liked her and she had admitted the same thing- things were beginning to look up. But down at the same time- they were down some players and something had to be done about it.

TBC....


	8. 8

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Chapter 8-

Monday morning came and Cate sighed- she was beginning to hate her shoulder. She had to have Connie and Julie help her get dressed in the mornings and at night. She felt helpless but knew that in a few days she could start moving her shoulder again. She stared at her reflection while brushing her hair- she was going to leave it down today- it was starting to get colder outside and knew that she was going to need a better coat.

Cate had talked to her mom on Sunday and told her what happened. She was shocked at what Charlie did and was wondering why he had come home. She was worried about Cate, but Cate reassured her that she was fine and the trainers and the team was taking good care of her. Casey told her daughter that she would see her at the game on Friday and that weekend they would go shopping for some warmer clothes- that of course prompted Connie to beg to go and then Julie got added to the mix. Cate's mom called Connie's mom and the two moms agreed to take the three girls shopping.

Connie dropped her bag by her bed and sat down with a sigh. Julie and Cate looked over at her to see what was wrong.

"Why so glum?" Julie asked.

"It's Monday." Connie said.

"Yup- back to the daily grind." Cate said.

The three girls grabbed their backpacks- Cate was happy that she had a messenger bag not a backpack like Connie- and walked to breakfast. They met up with Guy, Kenny and Luis. Luis tried to talk Cate into letting him take her bag for her but she told him that her left shoulder was perfectly fine to hold the weight. Julie just laughed at Luis's antics.

They made their way into the Dinning Hall and ate breakfast. As soon as the first bell rang- the team scattered to their first period classes and began their daily routines.

- - - -

Cate sigh as she watched her teammates practice without her. O'Rion was working on a new offence and Defense since he was now down 4 players (Portman was in Chicago, Cate was hurt and Charlie and Fulton had quit the team.) Connie and the rest of the second line had moved up to the first line so they were trying to rework some of the plays.

When O'Rion finally called practice to a halt, she got up and joined the team meeting. O'Rion told them to rest up and keep up the good work- they had a game on Friday that was to be played at Brighten Academy and they needed to tell their 5th period teachers tomorrow that they were missing classes on Friday

Cate and the others nodded. Julie and Connie walked towards the locker room while Cate went outside to wait for them. She found Adam waiting for her outside.

"You know that you could come in." Cate said.

"I wouldn't want anyone thinking I was stealing your plays." Adam said sitting down on the bench besides her.

"Yeah well everything had to be redone today- we are missing 4 starters now." Cate said.

"That really sucks. I still can't believe Charlie quit." Adam said

"Charlie does tend to take things the wrong way sometimes." Cate said.

They sat in silence for a few minutes then Adam spoke up again.

"I'm going to see Hans on Thursday. Do you want to come?" Adam asked.

"Adam Banks are you asking me out?" Cate said with a smile.

"Well. Uh. Um." Adam said scratching his head. "Yeah, kind of."

"Well, I accept." Cate said. She looked up and saw the rest of her team walking out of the rink and Adam and Cate got up. Adam went inside since he had practice and Cate went with Kenny to the library to study.

- - - -

Tuesday morning when Cate woke up she felt like something was wrong. Julie and Connie thought it was her shoulder, Cate said it wasn't and the girls proceeded to get dressed for the day. They went to breakfast and Cate still could not shake the feeling of something was wrong. She was surprised to see Fulton sitting at the table with Dwayne and Adam and was even more surprised to see Portman coming towards them with a tray of food.

Julie dropped her bag and went over to hug Portman. Luckily Portman put his tray down before the blonde girl launched herself at him. Connie and Cate went over to hug him as well.

"When did you get back?" Julie asked.

"Last night at 10pm. Coach picked me up form the airport." Portman said.

"How's you grandmother?" Cate asked.

"She's hanging in there. She fell and broke her hip. So she will be in the hospital for a while then move back home to live with my family. She told me to get my butt back to school so that I wouldn't miss anymore school work and practice." Portman said.

"Well we are happy that you are back." Connie said. The rest of the team said pretty much the same thing.

"So, what's being going on since I was gone?" Portman asked.

The team groaned and let Averman tell Portman what was happening while the girls went to get breakfast.

- - -

Cate was sitting in 3rd period when the Dean's secretary came into her class.

"Caitlin, Luis, Connie and Averman. You are needed in the Dean's office. Take your stuff with you." The secretary said.

They collected their stuff and followed her to the Dean's office.

"Are we in trouble?" Averman asked.

"We haven't done anything wrong the last couple of days have we?" Luis asked

"I have no idea." Cate said.

They walked into the office and found the rest of the Team as well as Adam sitting or standing. What shocked Cate the most was Coach Bombay was there.

"Gordon needs to talk to you." The Dean said and stepped out of the way.

"Guys and Girls. I don't know how to tell you this, but Sunday morning Hans had a heart attack and died." Bombay said.

The team was silent. Cate could feel the tears beginning to form in her eyes. She saw that Connie and Julie had tears falling down their faces. The original ducks all had their heads down.

"You all have been excused from classes for today and Tomorrow." The Dean told them.

"We are having the funeral tomorrow and Hans wanted it to be here near his family- you guys the Ducks." Bombay explained.

The team remained silent and Dean Buckley left them to be alone with their coach.

- - - -

The funeral the next day was very sad. All of the ducks were there- from District 5 to the Eden Hall team. All the in state parents had come as well. There was not a lot of time for the other parents to come to the funeral so during Homecoming week they were going to have a memorial service for Hans.

Before the casket was lowered, Bombay draped a District 5 jersey over his casket and told the JV team. "Remember that it was Hans that taught you to fly together."

The girls stepped up and put roses on the casket and everyone began to walk back to the cars. The Banks were holding a get together at their home for everyone to come and share their memories of Hans.

Bombay called a meeting in the Bank's study in which the Eden Hall team, Adam, Casey and some parents were attending.

"I have a copy of Han's will. Each of you is mentioned in it." Bombay began.

"He is leaving each member of the team- Caitlin, Charlie, Connie, Adam, Dean, Fulton, Dwayne, Ken, Goldberg, Luis, Guy, Julie, Russ and Averman $5,000 to be put towards you college funds."

"To Casey Conway and Gordon Bombay he leaves the Skate shop." Bombay said in surprise. Casey looked at him in shock. "I can't believe he left us the store." He said to himself.

"Jan moved back to Sweden and gave Han's full ownership of the store." Adam's dad explained. "He told me that he wanted you two to run it because that way it still stayed in the family."

"Wow" Adam said.

"What. How do we run a skate shop?" Casey asked Gordon.

"Don't worry we will figure it out later." Gordon said.

They left the room and went to join the guests in the family room.

Charlie decided that he had enough with sitting around and decided to go for a walk. Cate noticed him get up and leave and went to tell Bombay.

"Coach, he looks up to you. Maybe you can convince him to come back to the team." Cate asked.

"Caitlin, I'll try and talk to him." Bombay said.

She watched him walk out the door and go after Charlie. Casey came over and hugged her daughter.

"I think Gordon will be able to get through to him." Casey said.

"I hope so." Cate said.

"I know he will. I also know that you and Charlie look up to him as a dad." Casey said. "That's why I know he can get through to him."

Cate nodded her head and she and her mom went back to the guests.

- - - - - -

It was Friday afternoon and Cate was sitting on the bus in her warm ups. She had seen Charlie at school today, but he didn't talk to anyone from the team. O'Rion was up front taking roll. Cate was sitting near the front when she noticed a familiar looking brown head climb the steps of the bus.

"Conway." O'Rion said.

Cate smiled. It had to be her brother- O'Rion called her Cate and Charlie was Conway.

"I want to come back and play two way hockey." Charlie asked.

"Get on the bus we are running behind." O'Rion said.

Charlie gave the bus driver his hockey bag and got on the bus. The team started clapping and high fiving him as he walked down the aisle. He sat down behind Cate and tweaked her hair. Cate turned around and smiled at her brother.

"Welcome back Spaz." Cate said.

"It's good to be back brat." Charlie said.

Russ made fun of Charlie and Charlie went to hit him. The driver was settling back into his seat when Dean Buckley appeared.

"Dean we are running late." O'Rion said.

"This will take just a moment." Dean said.

"Tomorrow we are having a board meeting and you are the topic of interest." Dean told them.

"What are you talking about?" O'Rion said.

"We are discussing the removal of their scholarships. Now if it goes through, you will be able to finish out the semester then have to find other academic pursuits." Dean said.

O'Rion and the Dean then got off the bus and started talking. Charlie and the others sat in silence. When O'Rion came back the team all started speaking at once.

"Guys calm down, we will fight this and you wont have to leave the school. Now we have a game to get to and win." O'Rion said sitting back down.

They were quiet the bus ride to the game. Everyone was thinking the same thing- what was to happen at the board meeting tomorrow.

TBC.....


	9. 9

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Author's note- I know I don't have the exact wording for Gordon's speech to the board, but I am going off what I remember and adding stuff- don't sue me. :)

Chapter 9

The next morning at 9 AM a special board meeting had been called to discuss the removal of 14 Junior Varsity Scholarships. All 14 were present along with most of their parents. Those that were missing were the Gaffney's, Portman's, Robertson's, Tyler's, Mendoza's and Wu's. The parents that were at the meeting were representing those six. Casey Conway, Philip and Jennifer Banks, Jared and Maggie Monreau and Gordon Bombay had power of attorney on the six youngsters since they lived the closest to the school.

Dean Buckley was at the head of the table asking the board for a motion to withdraw the removal of the scholarships. No one raised a hand or spoke up.

Charlie and Cate looked at each other then at the rest of the team that was present. Adam was to Cate's left and Julie was on the other side of him. Connie looked like she was going to cry and Fulton and Portman looked like they wanted to hit someone.

"I'm sorry folk unless someone seconds the motion, the action stands." The Dean said turning to the Ducks.

"Then you leave us no choice but to bring up our attorney." O'Rion said as he nodded towards Casey Conway.

Casey stepped out of the way and allowed Gordon Bombay to step forward.

"Ladies and gentlemen of the board, I am the legal representative for the Junior Varsity Team or as they were know at the time the scholarships were presented to them The United States Ducks." Gordon began.

"These scholarships that were presented to the Ducks are a legal contract that both the students, parents and school signed together. I know for a fact being present at all 14 signings that there are only two ways to the removal of the scholarships the first being that the student decides to withdrawal from the school or the second being that they drop below the recommenced GPA of 2.0 for more then two semesters or grade periods. I know for a fact that these 14 students are choosing to remain here and that they all are maintaining a GPA of 2,95 or better at this time. In fact 5 of the Junior Varsity members are maintaining honor's classes at a freshman level." Gordon stated

Charlie and Cate looked at each other and grinned. Julie leaned over to Coach O'Rion and whispered something to him. O'Rion looked back at her and nodded his head.

Gordon continued his speech to the board going on about how if they did revoke the scholarships that he would take them to court and keep the Ducks at the school and get injunctions and stuff long after they completed college and make sure that they were compensated for their emotional well-being.

Cate was impressed. Charlie was right- it was good to have Bombay on their side. He was a great lawyer even though it was not his passion.

There was some silence then one of the female board members spoke up, "I move that the scholarships be reinstated." She said in a dejected voice.

"I second." A man said. Then all the board members raised their hands to agree.

Cate was so happy when the Dean announced that their scholarships were reinstated. She hugged Charlie, then Adam then Connie and Julie. Then the room was cleared because that was the only thing on the agenda. When they came outside into the hallway- they found the Varsity team waiting for them. As soon as they saw the faces of the JV team, they got upset.

"You guys are just a publicity stunt brought in here for fun." Riley said.

Charlie came forward to say something but Connie and Cate managed to restrain him. Riley was going to react but O'Rion, Bombay, Wilson and the parents came out. Wilson and O'Rion came up to the two teams.

"Adam Banks is returning to the Junior Varsity team." Wilson said to both teams.

The JV team began hugging him while Wilson walked his Varsity team away from the group and to the outside of the building.

"How?" Adam asked O'Rion.

"Your dad." O'Rion said.

"I knew that you were miserable without your friends so I had a talk with the Dean and the coaches yesterday." Philip Banks said to the team.

Adam hugged his dad. Cate was so happy; finally Adam was back where he belonged. She was suddenly aware that the group was moving towards the parking lot.

"Where are we going?" Cate asked Julie.

"To eat- the parents are paying for it." Connie said coming up on Cate's other side.

"Oh" Cate said.

"Cate we are celebrating." Charlie said. "It's 11 am and your mind is already wondering?"

Cate just shook her head and got in the car with Charlie, Bombay, her mom and Russ.

- - - - - -

The JV team's good news was soon spread throughout the school. They had managed to stay away from the Varsity team for most of the weekend. But they were dreading breakfast Monday morning.

"Well here goes." Charlie said as they made their way into the Dinning Hall. They spotted the Varsity team- it wasn't that hard they were the only ones openingly glaring at the JV team. Charlie told them to ignore them and get something to eat.

They were doing a good job of ignoring them until Riley, Cole and a couple of seniors came up to them.

"You guys better watch out next Saturday." Cole said.

"After we are done with you, you're going to wish that your scholarships were revoked." Riley said.

Charlie had enough. "We are not something that you can push around. We have the same rights as you to come here." He said.

The rest of the team stood up and agreed with Charlie.

"Just because your are older than us, doesn't mean you will always get your way." Cate said.

"No body wants you here, so why don't you just leave. You disgrace the Warrior name." Cole said.

"Well, we aren't Warriors now are we." Portman said. "We're Ducks."

"Well nobody wants here." Cole tried to reiterate.

"That's where you are wrong." A voice said. Cate and Connie turned to the sound and saw Alice and her team standing to the right of the JV team.

"Yeah- you guys think you're so great for winning all those titles. You aren't the only champs at this school." Another voice spoke up.

The JV team soon found that the Track Teams, the Football Teams and the rest of the Equestrian team (the Varsity) came to stand behind the JV team.

"Yeah- this isn't just your school" the rest of the team captains said.

Riley and the Varsity team were shocked- suddenly the whole school (well mostly the Freshman, Sophomores and Juniors athletes) were backing the JV team up.

"So when we win the Ducks fly and the Warriors die." Russ said.

The Varsity Hockey team glared at them and stormed out.

"Real good Russ, make them even madder then they are." Averman said.

"Charlie what are we going to do?" Luis asked.

"Go to class, then after school we have work to do." Charlie responded

The team nodded then everyone went to class

- - - - -

Cate went to the Training Room before practice each day to heat her shoulder and get it checked out. The Trainers were taking every precaution to make sure it wasn't reinjured. She was happy to be back on the ice on Wednesday- she went a week and a half with out practice and she was dieing to skate. She was also happy that the JV team had a bye week meaning no games but many days of practice.

While she was sitting the bench- O'Rion began teaching them how to block the puck from the goal. He explained that the Varsity team took every opportunity to get the puck in the goal not from the first shot but from the bank shots in front of the goal. The JV team needed to clear the puck and help Julie in order to stay alive in the game.

They worked hard everyday- scrimmaging, clearing the puck, working on defense and their stamina. They were so tired coming out of practice- none of the budding romances had a chance to progress since right now their main focus was the game. But Adam and Portman made it a goal to spend some quiet time each day with their girls. In fact on this particular Friday when there was no game- Portman and Adam were acting kind of strange.

Cate, Connie and Julie were sitting outside the Athletic Hall waiting for the boys to walk with them to dinner. They heard the door open and Cate looked up. She noticed everyone but Charlie, Adam, Portman, Dwayne and Fulton not there.

"Where are the others?" Julie asked standing up.

"They will be done in a minute." Kenny said with a smile.

"Well then I guess we'll start walking." Cate said.

Averman made a move to grab her and keep her still. "They said to wait." He explained.

Dwayne then came out the door with Alice and Karen and Fulton behind him. The two girls had smiles on their faces and Fulton looked a little embarrassed.

"What's going on? Cate asked.

"Homecoming Dance." Alice said bouncing down the stairs to Julie and Connie.

"Dwayne just asked me and I of course said yes." Alice explained.

"And Fulton asked me." Karen said.

Everyone looked at Fulton who got even redder. "Hey she's the only girl besides you three that I know and won't get killed for asking." Fulton tried to explain.

"If it makes you feel better, I have two older brothers." Karen said.

"No it doesn't." Fulton said.

"Ok, that explains Dwayne and Fulton, but what about the other three?" Cate said.

She suddenly saw Charlie and Portman come up to them from the direction of the parking lot.

Charlie went up to Connie and presented her with a bunch of lilies. "Connie will you go to the Homecoming dance with me?" he asked.

Cate jaw dropped. Connie of course agreed. What?!? How?? When did this happen?? She thought to herself.

Then Portman came up to Julie and gave her two pink tulips and asked her to go to the Homecoming Dance with him. She too agreed. That pairing wasn't a shock because everyone knew since the third day of school that they liked each other. But Connie and Charlie- since when did that happen?

Cate then snapped back to reality and noticed that Adam still had not returned. She was about to ask the group if they knew where he was when Kenny spotted him running from the direction of the Library.

"Sorry, lost track of time. English paper due by 7pm." Adam said.

Cate remember that Adam said that his English teacher gave him an extension because there was a mix up because the teachers still thought he was on Varsity- who were currently at a game. He asked to be able to turn the paper in like the rest of the class- but turn it in later in the day.

The team walked down to dinner. Connie and Julie beaming and Cate a little confused. Was Adam going to ask her to go to the dance or not? Adam made not attempt to ask her during dinner or even after.

Cate was a little disappointed Saturday morning. They JV team had a early practice- but O'Rion made arrangement to take them to their old District 5 rink to practice. He claimed it was to keep prying eyes away from practice. Adam still had not made any mention of the dance.

She sighed as she climbed into her mom's car. Recently Casey purchased a new slightly used SUV on the urging on Adam and Connie moms. It was much more reliable then her old station wagon. Casey and Maggie were taking Connie, Julie and Cate dress shopping for the dance.

"I don't see why I am going?" Cate complained. "I haven't been asked yet."

Maggie turned in her seat to look at the three girls behind her. "Don't worry Caitlin, you'll get asked before the weekend is over." She said.

"Huh?" Cate responded. But instead of an answer she say her mom playfully slap Connie mom and give her a look.

The girls came back to the school after 3 hours of shopping for the "right" outfit for the Homecoming Dance. They quickly ran up to their rooms and put their new purchases into their closet and ran to dinner.

- - - -

The weekend came and went, Cate still had not been asked and was getting frustrated. Adam liked her, why was he not asking her to the dance?

TBC...


	10. 10

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Chapter 10-

Monday morning came all too quickly for Cate. She sat up on her bed and looked at the clock- it read 6:55 am. She cursed at it and got up. Julie and Connie were beginning to wake up as well. Julie stumbled into the bathroom while Cate went and looked out the window. Since it was now the first week of November- it was beginning to get quite cold in Minnesota. She looked and saw dark clouds outside.

"I think it might rain today." Cate said to Connie turning away from the window and back to her bed to make it up.

"Well as long as it does not rain on Saturday then I'm happy." Connie said making up her own bed.

"Cons, when did you start liking my brother?" Cate asked.

"During the summer." Connie responded. "You remember how when we went to the games last year and Guy and I agreed that we were better friends that a couple. Well I guess I started to notice Charlie differently and stuff."

Cate just nodded her head and began to get dressed. She had taken a shower the night before so she could straighten her curly honey colored hair that morning. She quickly put on her uniform and began to do her hair. Julie came out of the bathroom and Connie rushed in. Cate continued on her hair until ever strain was straight. She then pulled on her v-neck sweater and grabbed her black coat. She wanted to be warm today and not get sick before Saturday's game. As soon as the other girls were dressed they grabbed their bags and went to breakfast. As they walked out they failed to notice the white envelope on the floor to their room addressed to Caitlin.

- - - -

It was Homecoming week so all the normal school routines had been thrown off key. Instead of seating in a classroom for 1st period, Cate sat in the Auditorium with the rest of the student body listen to Dean Buckley drone on and on about school pride and how everyone needed to come out and support the teams this week. There was going to be a volleyball game on Wed. night, a Football game Fri. night and the JV/Varsity showdown on Sat. Also on Saturday was the Homecoming Dance. There the King and Queen would preside the dance. The King and Queen would be announced during Halftime of the Football game.

Then the Student Body President a girl named Becky Diller, stepped up to the mike to announce the home coming court. Cate rolled her eyes as Becky began announcing the names. The senior names were predictable, they were all cheerleaders. The junior name was an athlete as well as the sophomore name. The freshman name caused her to sit up in her seat. Alice, as in the Alice that was on the Equestrian team was named the Freshman Princess. Cate and the rest of the freshman class yell and clapped loudly for her. The prince's names were all jocks of course, but none that Cate really knew. Dean Buckley then dismissed them to their 3rd period teachers.

Cate had third period with Adam and Connie so they walked together to their class. Once they got there their teacher took them to the library to research stuff for their history projects that were due before Christmas break.

Cate was not interested in researching history facts so she began to wander around the library looking at the different sections. The yearbooks caught her eye so she made her way towards them looking at the dates on the spine. She grabbed a couple from the years Bombay went to school here and brought them to a table nearby to look through them. She couldn't help laugh at the clothes and hairstyles that they wore. At least the uniforms now look better than before.

"Cate, what are you looking at?" Connie said coming up to her.

"Yearbooks" Cate said showing Connie the pictures she was looking at.

Connie sat down next to Cate and soon the two of them were commenting on the hairstyles and the events in all the pictures. After looking through those, Connie got up and went to get some form the late 60's early 70's. Cate began to look through those and began to notice something- the mascot was different.

"Connie look." Cate said.

"What?" Connie asked puzzled.

"Look at the athlete uniforms." Cate said.

"I don't get it?" Connie said. "They are different from ours, yes, but I have no idea what you are trying to show me."

Cate sighed and went to the front of the book. "Look at the mascot."

"Oh" Connie said as she grabbed the book out of her hands. "Hey it's not the Warriors."

"Yup, they were the Falcons." Cate said. "They must have changed it recently?"

"Actually it was changed in the late 80's" Adam said coming up to the girls.

"Why?" Connie asked as she began piling the books back together so they could be returned to the shelves.

"Something about the board wanting a more superior mascot name or something." Adam said as her sat next to Cate.

Connie got up and began to put some of the yearbooks away. Cate turned her attention back to the yearbook in her hand.

"Hey Cate..umm..so about the dance?" Adam began.

"Homecoming Dance?" Cate asked with a smile.

"Yeah that one, are you going?" Adam asked.

"I was planning on it." Cate said closing the book.

"Well I was wondering if you wanted to go together?" Adam asked.

"I'd like that." Cate said.

"Great" Adam said.

The sat and smiled at each other. Connie came back, rolled her eyes at the two of them and told them that it was time to go to 4th period. Cate got up and replaced the book and the three of them left the library.  When Cate got back to her room that night she found the white envelope on her bed.

"Oh, I found that when I came back after lunch.  I put it on your bed." Julie said turning on her computer.

"Who's it from?" Connie asked coming over to Cate's bed.

"It's from Adam." Cqte said quickly scanning it. "Oh, he was asking me to the dance.  But it seems he was too impatient and asked me when we were in the Library."

Julie and Connie put their hands over their hearts and sighed.

"Oh, be quiet." Cate said turing away from them.

Secretly she was very excited about going to the dance with Adam but didn't want the other two girls to know how she felt.

- - - -

Practice was grueling for the rest of the week. O'Rion wanted to make sure that his team was well prepared for the Varsity team. He knew that the JV team was good, but the Varsity was stronger and a little bit smarter. Sure he had smart players on his team, but they were still young and growing.

It was Thursday afternoon and O'Rion was very pleased with the progress that his team was making. He called an end to practice to have a short meeting.

Cate took off her helmet and kneeled on the ice next to Connie and Averman.

"You guys are doing great." O'Rion began. "You are working hard, clearing the puck, and making sure each other is open for shots. But there is something missing."

Everyone looked at each other. Connie shrugged her shoulders at Cate and the girls looked back at O'Rion.

"You guys are not playing like warriors should. In fact you look nothing like warriors." O'Rion stated.

Great thought Cate, he's going to belittle us again.

"I fact you look like something else." O'Rion said as he went to the benches and came back with a box. He opened it up and took the first shirt out. He looked to the back and threw it to Charlie. "You look like Ducks." He said.

Cate looked over at Charlie and saw him turn the jersey over and look at the front. A huge grin came across his face and he showed the front to the rest of the team.

O'Rion then pass out the rest of the jerseys that he had collected earlier in the season.

O'Rion explained that for the JV/Varsity game, the JV team would be the Ducks since that was who they were before they entered the school.

The team was in shock to receive their jerseys back and just grinned at O'Rion. He then told them that they had Friday off because of all the Homecoming and Alumni stuff that was going to happen this coming weekend.

The team went in to change back into their school clothes and get ready for dinner.

On the way to dinner Charlie decided to have a quick meeting on the pathway.

"Guys we should do something special for Hans this weekend." Charlie said.

"Yeah, something to remember him by." Averman said.

"Any ideas?" Charlie asked. The team shook their heads.

"If any of you guys come up with something, let me know." Charlie said.

"Hey we should have a team dinner tomorrow." Julie said.

"Yeah." Said Goldberg and Luis.

"That sound like a good idea." Adam said "Where?"

"Mike's Diner" Charlie and Cate said at the same time.

Connie and Julie laughed. Cate and Charlie could argue all they wanted; they still were too much alike.

"I'll call mom later." Cate said.

"I'll call the team moms" Connie said, "They will want to drive."

"Ok, we still need an idea to honor Hans" Charlie reminded them as they walked into the Dinning Hall.

They ate in silence pondering what to do to honor their fallen mentor.

As they were leaving the Dinning Hall to go back to the dorms, Dwayne suddenly asked a question that was floating around in Cate's head. "Did someone find out if Bombay is coming this weekend?"

"He is and will be here on Saturday." Charlie said as they walked the path up to the dorms.

TBC...


	11. 11

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Chapter 11-

Cate was so excited and nervous. It was finally Saturday afternoon, the day of the big JV/Varsity hockey game. She was sitting in the JV locker room putting on her duck uniform. She looked in the mirror and found herself smiling at the sight before her. The white, purple and green of the uniform looked so much better that the red monstrosity that was her JV uniform.

"It's only for one night" Connie said to her.

"Yeah, but it's going to be worth it." Julie said coming up to the girls.

There was a knock on the door. Julie went to go see who it was and came over to tell the girls that Averman said to come to the boy's locker room.

The girls walked in a saw the boys dressed in their Duck uniforms. O'Rion looked up and began the meeting.

"Ok, just remember what we have learned at do your best out there." He said.

"What was it that Bombay always said?" he asked.

"Have fun" Charlie said.

"That's right have fun, you guys earned it. Just like you earned your spots on this team. Now let's go out there and show that Varsity team that they can't push us around." O'Rion told them.

The team grabbed their gloves and hockey sticks. O'Rion lead the way with Charlie and Adam behind him. As they made their way to the rink they saw that it was packed. They heard the announcement of the Varsity team who took the ice to a loud applause. Then the JV team was announced, O'Rion went to the bench leaving the Ducks to enter the ice. This was when they were going to pay their respects to Hans. It was a simple gesture and Kenny had been the one who found the idea and the rest of the team quickly agreed to it.

As the team stepped onto the ice with Charlie at the end, they each took off their right glove and moved in a circle to touch the ice in a Norwegian tradition of respect. They then proceeded to their bench to await the start of the game. As Cate sat on the bench she looked up and spotted their families. All of the Ducks parents had driven or flown out for the game. This was extra special to the out of state Ducks because most of their parents hadn't seen them play as a team in person.

O'Rion called them in for one last pep talk and had them begin their team cheer. Instead of the usual "Go Team", He led off with "Quack".

The rest of the team realized that was the signal to begin their regular Mighty Ducks Cheer. That got everyone who was a JV fan out of their seats and cheering loudly.

The game began with Charlie, Adam, Fulton, Portman, Guy and Julie on the ice. The Varsity team won the face off and the game began.

It was a tough 1st period of play. Both teams tried to get shots off but they were deflected by their goalies. The Ducks did everything possible to keep the puck from going into their net. Goldberg was extremely helpful as a defender. Cate and Connie were sore and tired from being banged into the walls by the Varsity boys.

Cate was sitting on the bench drinking water and listening to O'Rion talk to the team about strategy for the 2nd period.

"Don't give up." O'Rion said. "You want this as bad as they do, keep up the good work and keep shooting the puck."

The team nodded and got up to cheer.

During this period of play the Varsity team decided to beat on the Ducks. All of the players where being shoved into the walls, even if they didn't have the puck. O'Rion tried not to put Cate and Connie in at the same time, the Varsity team made it their mission to go after the two girls anytime they were in the game.

Cate was sitting on the bench catching her breather when she overheard the conversation that Russ and Kenny were having.

"Come on, teach me how to trash talk." Kenny begged Russ

"It's not something you teach, you just do it." Russ said.

"What do you mean?" Kenny asked.

"Just say the first thing that comes to mind." Russ said.

Cate started to laugh; this was something she had to witness- Kenny talking trash.

Kenny made a comment to someone and was shoved back to the bench.

"Make it short." Russ said.

Kenny made a move to speak to a ref but luckily Russ stopped him in time and Kenny moved on to someone else. Cate never heard the comment because she was distracted by the action by the Ducks net. Julie had just cleared the puck and handed it off to Guy. Guy was immediately checked by two Varsity boys and fell to the ground not coming up.

O'Rion and some Trainer rushed out to him. Cate noticed Guy's dad come out of the stands and rush to the ice. Casey Conway moved over to comfort Guy's mom with Connie's mom as well.

Connie came over to Cate and the held their breaths as they waited to hear about Guy. Next thing that Cate knew, Guy was standing up with the Trainer's help and walking off the ice. O'Rion came back to them and gathered them together.

"Guy will be fine. The Trainers are checking him out real quick." O'Rion said.

"We have two minutes of this period left. Keep up the defense." Charlie said.

"We can do this you guys." Julie said.

O'Rion then called Luis to take Guy's place on the ice.

When the 2nd period was over, O'Rion took his team to the JV locker room to talk.

Cate, Connie and Julie sat down on the benches and drank Gatorade.

"Thank god, one more period." Julie said.

"I have never played so hard." Connie said.

"I think after this game, I'll sleep for weeks." Cate added.

"We have one last period to play. We can do this." Charlie said to the team.

"It's still 0-0." O'Rion said. "I don't think the Varsity counted on this at the end of two periods of play."

"Guys, I know we want this more than they do." Portman said

"This last period everyone has a mission." Charlie said.

"Julie- keep the puck from going in. Goldberg, Kenny, Dwayne, Averman help her. Portman, Fulton try to keep the Varsity off our backs. Luis, Cate and Connie use your speed and agility to keep the puck away from the Varsity. Adam, Russ, Guy take the shots that you can get. Anyone open in front of the goal- take the shot, get the rebounds." Charlie said

"Remember, you can only win if you score more points than the other team" Cate said.

The team laughed at that comment.

"Hey, it's true." Cate replied.

She heard some comments from down the bench- more like her brother saying that she was a smart aleck.

O'Rion then took Charlie aside and handed him something. When Charlie turned around Cate noticed that he had a "C" on his jersey.

"Great, now there's no living the boy." Cate muttered.

"What's wrong?" Connie asked.

"Look" Cate said pointing at Charlie.

Julie and Connie just smiled and patted Cate on the shoulders and turned to fix their pads.

It was then time to walk out to the ice and start the final period of play.

For the first 8 minutes nothing really happened, the two teams took shots on each other with their goalies blocking them. With 6 minutes left to play, Kenny was charged with high sticking and put into the penalty box. This gave the Varsity team a power play which the Ducks were luckily able to defend. When Kenny was allowed back in the game, Portman was then charged with provoking the other team and sent to the penalty box. He tried to pump up the crowd while he was in the box.

Cate shook her head as she subbed into the game. She decided to focus on helping Julie keep the puck away from the goal since Adam, Charlie, and Fulton were in the game. Suddenly there was only less than a minute to the game. Each team was desperately taking whatever shots they could. O'Rion called for a line change and as she was coming onto the bench Kenny jumped out too soon making it 5 players on the ice when there should have been only 4. O'Rion called a time out. He sent Kenny to join Portman in the penalty box and looked to his team to see who to send to the ice.

"Julie stay in the goal. Conway, Banks, and Goldberg we are going with you three." O'Rion announced.

Cate almost fell out of her seat- Goldberg. He was putting Goldberg in. Oh please help the team someone she thought.

The boys went on the ice and began the last minute and a half two men down. Cate sat on the bench with her hands over her eyes yelling at Averman who was giving her a play-by-play.

She had had enough and pulled her hands away from her eyes to tell Averman off when she saw the goal. Julie had blocked the puck and sent it off to Adam. Adam and Charlie took off towards the other goal since the Varsity team was crowed around their goal. Goldberg was behind them with the Varsity team passing him. Adam sensing the Varsity team closing in on him passed the puck to Charlie. Charlie took off and was 7 meters away from the goal with two Varsity boys on him when he passed the puck back to Goldberg who had no one on him. Goldberg looked at the puck, looked at Charlie, looked at the puck again and shot it towards the goal. The goalie was slow to react and the puck went it and the time expired.

Cate started cheering and hugging everyone around her. She dropped her pads and stick and hopped over the bench to go hug the boys. She joined the mob of Ducks around Goldberg and they started cheering and jumping up and down. She was sandwiched in a hug with Dwayne and Russ when they heard Luis call out.

"Hey look at the score board." Luis said.

The group turned and noticed that the emblem of the warrior was now covered with a banner saying "Eden Hall Mighty Ducks".

"Wow" Connie said.

"Bombay did that," Charlie said.

"How?" Cate asked

"The deal you made with the Varsity." O'Rion said

"Hey guys, I don't know about you but we still have a Homecoming Dance to get ready for." Julie said

"Julie." The team cried.

"Hey, do you not want us to look pretty?" Connie said

"You look good in anything you wear." Charlie said to Connie and kissed her.

Cate's jaw dropped as well as half the team. They had never seen Charlie show this much affection with anyone.

Connie smiled at him and the team began making their way off the ice stopping to grab their stuff and hugging their parents before heading to the locker rooms.

The girls took a quick shower and headed to their dorm rooms to grab their dresses and make-up. They also grabbed Alice and Karen who were dates of the male Ducks. The then hurried to find Connie's mom to go to Connie's house and get ready. The boys were staying at school to get ready and the dads would pick them up and drive them to Connie's house to get the girls and drive them to the Homecoming Dance that was being held at the Country Club.

TBC...

Sorry for the delay in the update.... Real life and sports got in the way. I am so sad that our polo season is over and we didn't even make playoffs with our good record. The rain is evil and makes bad things happen to good teams.


	12. 12

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Chapter 12-

"I can not believe how much fun the dance was." Connie said as she entered her room with a tray full of plates and glasses.

"I know, it was awesome. The music was really good too." Julie added as she put down the bags of chips and cookies she was caring onto Connie's desk.

"Are you sure our flowers will be ok in the fridge?" Karen asked for the third time as she put the soda on Connie's dresser.

"Karen, for the last time they will be fine." Alice said as she looked up from the photo album she was looking at. She stayed in Connie's room while the other three girls went down to the kitchen to get snacks for the slumber party they were having after the Homecoming Dance.

"Hey did Caitlin get lost or something?" Karen asked as she sat down on the bed and began looking at the photos in the album with Alice.

"No I did not get lost." Cate said as she walked into the room with Julie laptop and a bunch of cords sticking out of it. "Sorry Jules, I couldn't get them out. But I did get all the pictures from the memory chip and the ones that Adam's mom sent."

"Yes, pictures." Connie said.

Julie grabbed her laptop and took the cords out and plugged the AC adaptor into the wall. The five girls all clad in pajamas gathered around as Cate took control of the laptop and found the slideshow program so that they could see all the pictures from the Homecoming Dance.

"Hey those are the JV/Varsity game." Alice said as the first few pictures went by.

"Yeah- that's us warming up." Connie said as a picture of Julie in the goal and Cate and Connie shooting at her went by.

Many pictures of the game went by- the team warming up, the tribute to Hans, the team during the game. When Goldberg shot the game winning goal, the celebration and a picture of the Ducks under the new Eden Hall Banner.

Then came the pictures that the Mom's took of the girls getting ready- curlers in their hair, Connie and Julie trying to put makeup on Cate, Alice threatening to tie her down if she did not stop squirming, the girls in their dresses- Alice in navy blue, Karen in red, Julie in blue, Connie in gold and Cate in black and white.

The pictures that Adam's mom sent were the group pictures of the team, the boys, the three girls, then the five girls, the five girls and their dates, than a few funny pictures of the hockey team then finally a few funny pictures of the team with Alice and Karen.

"Man those are great. I want copies of all of those." Cate said.

"Yeah, I'll burn them when we get back to school." Connie said.

"So now that we looked at the homecoming pictures, now what?" Julie asked as she saved the program and made up a file name for later.

"Well you lady ducks can tell us a bit of the Duck history since you have two ladies here who basically know only the antics that you have been up to since school started." Alice said.

The three girls looked at each other and shrugged. "Where should we start?" Connie asked.

"Well how about here" Karen said as she handed over the photo albums that said Ducks on them.

Cate grinned and grabbed vol. 1 " well here is the little story and pictures to go with it of the Ducks from our view point- anything else has been told to us from the boys."

The first photo album held pictures of the District 5 team before Coach Bombay became their coach. Then moved to the team becoming the Ducks that covered most of their sixth grade year. The second photo album held the photos from their first year of junior high and them defending their title for the pee-wees. The third album was of the summer of their eight-grade year when they were recruited to be team USA. The fourth album was the summer of the freshman year and only a few photos of the new school year had been added.

"So most of you guys have know each other for a long time" Alice said as she stacked the albums onto the nightstand.

"Yeah, Averman, Charlie, Guy, Connie and I have known each other since we were like 5 years old." Cate said.

"Jessie and his brother came around 1st grade as did Goldberg, Peter, Karp, Tammy and Tommy- but they didn't join the team until 6th grade as did Fulton." Connie added.

"Then Adam joined the team- but he didn't go to the same school as us until junior high." Cate added.

"Then the summer of 8th grade Portman, Luis, Kenny, Russ and I joined the team." Julie said with a smile.

"And finally you have all the USA Ducks at the same school. The End." Cate said with a bow.

Connie and Alice hit Cate with pillows and Julie tried not to spill soda all over Connie's bed.

"Hey we need to get to sleep. Don't you guys have to meet up with your parents tomorrow for breakfast or something?" Karen stated.

"Oh Brunch at Adam's." Connie said. The next morning all the Ducks and their parents were meeting up at Adam's house for a brunch before the Tyler's, the Wu's, the Gaffney's, the Mendoza's and the Portman's left to go back home and end Homecoming weekend.

"Don't worry we have something similar with our parents tomorrow before they go back to Colorado." Karen said as the girls cleaned up the mess they made.

Cate and Connie took all the dishes and food back to the kitchen while Julie, Karen and Alice got the air mattress pumped up and sleeping arrangements sorted out.

15 minutes later all five girls were fast asleep thinking about the dance and the fun that they had.

TBC..

_I am so sorry it has taken me soooo long to update- real life threw a curve ball and other pressing matter came up: rain, flooding, family crisis._

_I promise that I will be better at updating this story and any others that I have written._

_hope every one is having a great start to their new year_


	13. 13

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Chapter 13-

It was Sunday night and Cate sat in her dorm room writing in her journal. She kept a journal only to remind herself of all the big stuff that had been happening in her life. She was hoping that one day she could take all those journals and write a book on how life was as a duck. Cate loved to write and take pictures and hoped that one day those passions she had would help her in her career later on in life.

"Whatcha doing?" Julie asked as she came into the room and dropped her book bag on the floor by her bed.

"Nothing much, just writing down all the events of this weekend." Cate said as she finished another sentence in her journal and looked up at Julie.

"Oh, ok." Julie said. "Hey Connie's not back yet?"

"Umm she came by 20 minutes ago and mumbled something about an English assignment she forgot to write down.. I think she's down the hall talking to one of the girls on the tennis team who's in her class." Cate said as she stood up, walked over to her desk and placed her journal in a box.

"Can you believe all the homework that our teacher's have been giving us?" Julie said as she looked up at the ceiling.

"Well that's only cause we're in all those honor's class Cat Lady." Cate said as she bounced onto Julie bed.

"Yeah, but still…we are only freshman. I hate to see what senior year will be like." Julie said as she tried to make herself more comfortable on her bed.

"Personally I'm dreading tomorrow morning when the Varsity team finds us." Cate said.

Julie was about to comment when Connie came through the door with Alice and Karen at her heals.

"Ladies" Connie said.

"Hey" Julie and Cate said back.

Connie put her notebook down on Cate's desk and motioned Alice and Karen to sit down. "You don't have any plans for the next 30 minutes, do you?" Connie asked.

"Nope." Julie said.

"I plan on looking at the ceiling for the next two minutes then turn my thoughts to other places, but other than that no." Cate said and then was meet with a pillow at her face thrown by Connie.

"Good. Cause we are going to be having guests coming in the next two minutes." Connie said.

"What guests?" Julie said as she tried to sit up on her bed.

As she was doing that a knock was heard on the door and Alice went up to get the door. In walked the Female JV/Varsity Captains of the Tennis teams, Soccer Teams, Swim Teams, Volleyball Teams, Basketball, Softball, Water Polo, Track, Cross Country and Field Hockey Teams.

"Ok the meeting can start now." Connie said as she grabbed a pad of paper and a pen and tossed them to Karen.

"What meeting?" Cate said as the girls found places to sit in their room.

"Well tomorrow morning we, the Varsity and Junior Varsity Captains along with most of the male captains- except for the Varsity Hockey team- are going to approach the dean with the petitions that have been signed by all of our teammates- you two still need to sign by the way- and ask the dean to officially change our school mascot to the Ducks." The Varsity Basketball Captain- Amy said.

"Remember when we were looking at the yearbook in the library with Adam?" Connie said turning her attention to Cate. Cate nodded "Well, since our unofficial bet was heard by the majority of the school in the cafeteria two weeks ago- the rest of the teams decided that we should change the mascot back to a bird type animal."

"Ok." Cate said.

"The Varsity Hockey Team thinks that they are the Gods of this school. There are 10 other sports teams that have been state and league Champions as many times as they have been" Cara the Softball Captain said.

"Look at you guys- you have gold medals from the Junior Goodwill Games. Most of you will probably be picked to play in the Olympics even the Pros. You guys don't act like you own the school; you are trying to be a part of it. That's why we are going to the Dean to talk to him." Amy said.

"Do the boys know about this?" Julie asked as she looked over the petition that Karen handed over to her.

"They are having a similar meeting in the Soccer Captains room." Jodie the JV soccer captain said.

"Well I can't wait to see the expression on Riley's or the rest of his Hockey teams face when he finds out that this passes." Cate said as she took the petition away from Julie and signed her name.

"Ok, then it is settled. All the Captains will meet tomorrow morning to speak with the Dean at 7:30." Amy said as she stood up.

"By the end of the day we should know something." Cara said as the girls began to leave the room.

The girls got up to leave, calling out goodbyes and we'll let you know how things go as they walked out towards the hallways towards their own rooms.

"Man I wish I could be a fly on the wall to listen in at that meeting." Cate said as she walked over to her dresser and grabbed her pjs.

"Well Charlie will tell us what happened." Connie said as she walked into the bathroom.

"I hope so." Cate said.

The three girls got ready for bed and under their covers.

"Well whatever happens- I vote that we stay clear of Riley and company. You never know what they might do." Cate said as she closed her eyes.

"Portman will protect us." Julie said. "Hey that was my head." Julie took the pillow and put it on the floor.

"Good even in the dark I have good aim." Connie said.

"Good night." Cate said.

TBC….


	14. 14

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Chapter 14-

Caitlin woke up the next morning not ready to face the day. She had an excellent dream about the dance. She looked up to her nightstand and found that she had 25 minutes until her alarm went off. 'Good, I can reminisce for a while' she thought as she grabbed her bathrobe and went into the bathroom connected to her dorm.

As Caitlin let the water warm up she brushed her teeth and began remembering the Homecoming Dance.

_Flash back to Saturday Night- Connie's House_

"_Guys are you sure that my hair looks ok?" Cate asked as Karen came up to her with a makeup bag._

"_Cate, I'm telling you- you look great. Now go back to the chair so I can finish your makeup." Karen said leading Cate back to the chair that she had vacated only minutes before._

* * *

"_Girls the boys are here." Connie's Mom called up to them._

"_Ok let's make sure that we have everything before we go down." Connie said looking at the four girls before her._

"_Hair and Makeup done." Connie said._

"_Check" Alice said looking at all of the girls._

"_Dresses on and looking fabulous of course." Connie said._

"_Check and Yes we do look fabulous." Julie added with a grin._

"_Purses with the essentials." Connie said as she open her purse and the other four followed._

"_What are the essentials again? Cate asked hoping to ruffle Connie's feathers.._

"_Cate!" Connie exclaimed._

"_Kidding. Kidding." Cate said._

"_Connie I think we are ready." Julie said as she began to steer Connie out of the bedroom._

* * *

_Cate could not believe how pretty the country club looked. It was like a fairy tale. She looked over at Adam and saw that he too was grinning._

"_I'm so excited." Cate said as she and Adam followed Charlie and Connie into the clubhouse_

_There was a photographer in the lobby area and balloons and streamers leading to the dance floor which was set up with tables and a dance floor waiting for people to come and dance on. She could hear the DJ playing some songs and saw a few people sitting down._

"_Hey lets get some pictures." Julie said. "The line is not too long and the team seems to be here."_

"_So how are we going to do this?" Charlie asked._

"_How couples, then groups of couples, then groups." Karen suggested._

* * *

_So all the couple had their pictures taken. Adam tried to make Cate laugh in their picture; Charlie and Connie were trying not to laugh in their picture. Portman and Julie had an agreement that they would take a nice picture than for all the others he could put his bandana back on._

_They thought that the poor photographer was going to keel over with all the requests that they made for group pictures. There was one of all the male Ducks, one of all the female Ducks, one of all five females, then came all the wacky team pictures that they could think of and finally a normal big group picture of the team and all the dates._

_After the pictures were taken the team walked into the dance floor and grabbed two tables to make sure that everyone was together. They ate, they danced, they stayed away from the Varsity. All in all it was a fun time. The Homecoming court was announced and their table was really loud when Alice was presented as the Freshman Princess._

_End Flashback_

Cate smiled as she rinsed the conditioner out of her hair. She and Adam had danced to so many songs. In fact come to think of it she danced with almost all of the male ducks except for her brother of course. He favorite part of the evening was when they were being picked up by the parents- Adam had kissed her on the cheek and told her that she looked very pretty that evening. Then he got into his mom's car with Charlie, Guy, Portman and Fulton to be taken back to his house.

She got out of the shower and put on her robe. When she walked back into her room she found that Julie's alarm clock was going off and Connie was actually awake.

"Shower's free." Cate said as she walked over to her side of the room and began getting out her uniform and changing.

Julie jumped out of her bed and went into the bathroom.

"So what got you up bright and early thins morning?" Connie asked as she started to make up her bed.

"Nothing, I just woke up from this great dream I had and decided not to fall back to sleep." Cate said as she was buttoning up her long sleeved white shirt over a white turtleneck.

"Right." Connie said. "And I am so the queen of England." As she started taking out her uniform as well as warm tights, a white turtleneck and her black v neck sweater.

"Who's the queen of England?" Julie asked as she walked back into the room.

"Connie." Cate said turning around and frowning at the red tie that she was putting on.

"Ok." Julie said shaking her head. Sometimes Cate and Connie were to confusing for her.

30 minutes later the girls were dressed in their uniforms and with coats and backpacks in hand they went out to face the day that was Monday.

TBC…


	15. 15

The Best That You Can Be

PG-13 (just in case)

DISCLAIMER- I don't own the Mighty Ducks or the characters except for my own that I made up. If I did then well I would be rich and doing other stuff.

Chapter 15-

The girls put on their coats as soon as they walked outside. It was cold and overcast outside. They made their way towards the dinning hall and caught up to Averman and Kenny who were just about to go in.

"Man it's cold outside." Kenny said, as he held to door open for the three girls.

"I know." Averman replied back.

"Maybe it will start snowing?" Connie said.

"Not today Connie." Cate said.

"I think I heard on the radio that we might get snow by the weekend." Julie said as they got in line and began deciding what they wanted for breakfast.

"I just hope that it starts snowing after Thursday." Cate said as she looked over the bread choices and grabbed some white toast.

"Why Thursday?" Kenny asked as he put some bacon and eggs on his plate.

"Game on Wednesday." Julie said.

"Well that and Bombay is coming home." Cate said as she decided to have waffles for breakfast.

"Really, how long this time?" Connie asked.

"I think until after Thanksgiving then he said that he would be back in the middle of December for Christmas and New Years." Cate said. "All I know is that he and mom have been talking a lot about the skate shop and other things. "

"Really, what are they doing abpout the skate shop?" Averman asked.

"We are keeping it and I think they are going to bring in other merchandise to sell like snowboarding equipment and other stuff and change it into a more sporting good type thing. I really don't' know all that much about it. I just know that Bombay is coming home and is going to be at our game on Wednesday." Cate said as they sat down at their table.

The five JV players began eating and acknowledged the others when they came trickling in. Cate looked at the clock and noticed that it was 7:30 AM. She also noticed that Charlie and Adam were not at the table. She looked over to Alice and Karen's table and saw that Alice was pointing in the direction of where the Varsity Hockey team was sitting. Looking over in that direction, Cate saw that there were quite a few empty seats at that table.

"Wonder how the meetings going?" Guy asked the table in general.

"I'm wondering why the Varsity Hockey table is so empty." Russ said and most of the JV table looked over in that direction.

"That can't be good." Luis said.

"No kidding." Russ said.

"Well I for one am not about to go wondering the halls alone." Averman said.

"Yeah I think the buddy system will be a good idea today." Cate said looking over at the empty Varsity hockey table.

* * *

The rest of the day was pretty boring. Adam and Charlie refused to say what happened during the meeting except that the petition was handed in as well as one from the rest of the student body and the board was going to look over it at the next meeting.

They had a semi normal practice. There were only three more games left of the JV season before the JV League Tournament and O'Rion wanted to make sure that his team was the most prepared for the league finals.

That night Cate sat in her room pondering over all the thoughts in her head- the skate shop, the petition, end of the season, what to do next semester, her family and of course Adam.

TBC…..

I thought I would be generous and give you 2 chapters today. Sorry this one is short but with all the stuff that would be happening after this day was to be over it would be way too long.


End file.
